Feb 10, 2020, 18:15 pm
(This post was last modified: Feb 10, 2020, 22:03 pm by Resurgence. Edited 2 times in total.)
* On no fewer than five occasions, mice starved or dehydrated to death because employees forgot to give them food or water. "The problem was not noted during the daily health checks," said one report from June 2018.
* Thirteen mice baked to death after a heating system failure left them in 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) overnight.
* Primates were kept in a room where the lights were on 24-hours-a-day for nearly five months because a facility manager was said to be overworked.
* A vet failed to provide any care to a female owl monkey used for breeding after she became seriously ill and lost a fifth of her bodyweight, eventually succumbing to heart failure, fluid in the chest and abdominal hemorrhage.
* Other examples spoke to serial incompetence, including one where a dog sustained skin burns from an electric blanket used because the procedure room was too cold, but staff failed to monitor its use.
* In July 2018, an experimenter injected 15 zebrafish with a salt solution, even though this procedure had not been approved. Four of the zebrafish died immediately. Three weeks later, the procedure was repeated in 18 fish -- even though the protocol had still not been approved. Eleven of these fish were euthanized and seven were found dead.
* Multiple surgeries took place without regard to aseptic procedure or post-operative care -- including on a primate.
Few incidents led to serious repercussions for the incompetent, uncaring staff overseeing the animals. Nor were there serious repercussions for the hosting labs.
These are among a litany of animal welfare failures that took place across a 22-month period from January 2018 to October 2019 at the laboratories of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the taxpayer-funded steward of medical and behavioral research of the United States.
A total of 31 internally reported incidents have come to light thanks to a freedom of information request made by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
They took place at a variety of centers performing research in areas including diabetes, child health, mental health and more -- mostly out of Bethesda, Maryland but some at a facility in Hamilton, Montana.
In a statement, the NIH said it took all "noncompliance" incidents seriously and all of them had been thoroughly investigated by its Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW), while changes to procedures had been made as a result.
But animal rights groups blasted the violations as egregious.
The testing is supposed to take place under strict laws and policies spelling out its conditions, including the size of cages, room temperatures and the animals' social needs, as well as vet visits and the need for hygienic surgery and post-operative care.
Federal research facilities are subject to the Public Health Service (PHS) Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, which in turns mandates compliance with the Animal Welfare Act, a landmark law signed by former president Lyndon Johnson 1966.
However, unlike labs in universities and private facilities, they are not subject to site inspections by the US Department of Agriculture and are meant to regulate themselves.
The repeated violations of policy show that this system is inherently flawed.
Animal testing has backing from the scientific community even as some advocate for a transition to other forms of research, including computer modeling and test tube based studies in line with the so-called three R's: Replacement, Reduction and Refinement.
U.S. President Donald Trump recently signed an animal cruelty bill (H.R. 724) that seeks to end horrific abuse like this and make it a federal crime. However, that piece of legislation made exemptions for animal testing for medical science.
New Zealand, France, Quebec, Austria, Australia, and Egypt have all recognized animals as being sentient.
https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/shocking...oc-1or6ds1
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-cong...l/724/text
* Thirteen mice baked to death after a heating system failure left them in 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) overnight.
* Primates were kept in a room where the lights were on 24-hours-a-day for nearly five months because a facility manager was said to be overworked.
* A vet failed to provide any care to a female owl monkey used for breeding after she became seriously ill and lost a fifth of her bodyweight, eventually succumbing to heart failure, fluid in the chest and abdominal hemorrhage.
* Other examples spoke to serial incompetence, including one where a dog sustained skin burns from an electric blanket used because the procedure room was too cold, but staff failed to monitor its use.
* In July 2018, an experimenter injected 15 zebrafish with a salt solution, even though this procedure had not been approved. Four of the zebrafish died immediately. Three weeks later, the procedure was repeated in 18 fish -- even though the protocol had still not been approved. Eleven of these fish were euthanized and seven were found dead.
* Multiple surgeries took place without regard to aseptic procedure or post-operative care -- including on a primate.
Few incidents led to serious repercussions for the incompetent, uncaring staff overseeing the animals. Nor were there serious repercussions for the hosting labs.
These are among a litany of animal welfare failures that took place across a 22-month period from January 2018 to October 2019 at the laboratories of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the taxpayer-funded steward of medical and behavioral research of the United States.
A total of 31 internally reported incidents have come to light thanks to a freedom of information request made by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
They took place at a variety of centers performing research in areas including diabetes, child health, mental health and more -- mostly out of Bethesda, Maryland but some at a facility in Hamilton, Montana.
In a statement, the NIH said it took all "noncompliance" incidents seriously and all of them had been thoroughly investigated by its Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW), while changes to procedures had been made as a result.
But animal rights groups blasted the violations as egregious.
Quote:"The laws and regulations exist to minimize animal suffering, pain, stress, and when even those minimal standards are not being addressed or not being followed, then you have significant suffering," said Eric Kleiman, a researcher at the Animal Welfare Institute.
"Training, veterinary care, food, water: this is the most basic of basics. If you can't do this kind of thing right you have no business doing anything with animals, it's as simple as that," he added, calling the findings "shocking."
The testing is supposed to take place under strict laws and policies spelling out its conditions, including the size of cages, room temperatures and the animals' social needs, as well as vet visits and the need for hygienic surgery and post-operative care.
Federal research facilities are subject to the Public Health Service (PHS) Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, which in turns mandates compliance with the Animal Welfare Act, a landmark law signed by former president Lyndon Johnson 1966.
However, unlike labs in universities and private facilities, they are not subject to site inspections by the US Department of Agriculture and are meant to regulate themselves.
The repeated violations of policy show that this system is inherently flawed.
Animal testing has backing from the scientific community even as some advocate for a transition to other forms of research, including computer modeling and test tube based studies in line with the so-called three R's: Replacement, Reduction and Refinement.
U.S. President Donald Trump recently signed an animal cruelty bill (H.R. 724) that seeks to end horrific abuse like this and make it a federal crime. However, that piece of legislation made exemptions for animal testing for medical science.
New Zealand, France, Quebec, Austria, Australia, and Egypt have all recognized animals as being sentient.
https://www.afp.com/en/news/826/shocking...oc-1or6ds1
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-cong...l/724/text