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OH-Sen: Add J.D. Vance (R) To The List Of GOPers With An Animal Torture Scandal On His Record [1]
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Date: 2022-10-25
We all know about about Dr. Mehmet Oz’s (R. NJ) record for being a dog killer. J.D. Vance (R. OH) apparently likes to invest his money in torturing animals like monkeys. From Rolling Stone:
x NEW: There's a dark side to J.D. Vance's venture capitalism
https://t.co/mWfD38lMqe — Tim Dickinson (@7im) October 25, 2022
WHAT KIND OF man profits from scalded monkey junk?
On the campaign trail, Trump-endorsed Ohio Senate nominee J.D. Vance leans into the hardscrabble upbringing he wrote about in Hillbilly Elegy. He rails against universities and the abuses of Big Tech. He blasts Covid mandates, encouraging distrust, without evidence, of the “long-term risks” of mRNA vaccines. A recent convert to Catholicism, Vance insists he’s “100 percent pro-life.”
But in his life away from politics, Vance is a venture capitalist. And his values as an investor are far muddier. His VC firm, Narya, is an investor in Hallow, a prayer app that’s caught flak for allegedly seeking to profit off the intimate religious data of its users. Narya is also a backer of Rumble, the far-right “free speech” video service that competes with YouTube in the same way the noxious Gab counters Twitter — platforming noxious creators who’ve been kicked out of more respectable corners of the internet.
Vance’s VC firm also backs a $200 million biotech startup called AmplifyBio. In addition to Narya’s holdings, Vance declared he personally owns as much as $100,000 in the company’s non-public stock, according to recent SEC disclosures. The drug-testing firm has been lauded in the local press as part of Ohio’s transition from rust-belt decay to high-tech rebirth. The firm touts its mission as: “Advancing Science for Humankind.”
ut behind the gleaming walls of its Columbus-area campus, AmplifyBio operates a disturbing enterprise. Its core business is testing experimental drugs developed by other companies. AmplifyBio tests many of these substances on live animals, including monkeys and dogs.
Many of these animals die in the course of toxic testing exposures. Other animals are destroyed at the conclusion of testing. There are also dreadful mistakes: A lab monkey recently died after getting wedged in faulty lab equipment, and technician error left other monkeys with burns on their genitals.
The Vance campaign did not respond to detailed questions from Rolling Stone about the GOP nominee’s investment ethics and how they align with the principles he espouses on the campaign trail. (Narya also did not respond to a request to discuss its investments.)
In particular, the research conducted at AmplifyBio also calls into question if Vance’s far-right religious values end where his profit motive begins. AmplifyBio tests cell therapies and other drugs that are likely derived from stem cell lines, including those recovered from aborted fetuses or live embryos. Such stem cell research drives vital innovation in modern health care, but it is anathema to those on the religious right who contend that life begins at conception.
In a written statement, the company tells Rolling Stone that it does not directly use stem cell lines in its testing. It is quick to add, however, that “historically established stem cell lines are a common tool in the research and development of drug molecules of all types, extending well beyond cell therapy and including ‘traditional’ drugs.”
AmplifyBio does not ask whether the drugs it tests are developed with fetal or embryonic cells, nor, it insists, would it turn away such business. “We do not have any policy that would require our clients to disclose those types of development details,” it says. “To have that policy could limit the clients we work with.”
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/25/2131254/-OH-Sen-Add-J-D-Vance-R-To-The-List-Of-GOPers-With-An-Animal-Torture-Scandal-On-Their-Record
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