Programs & Campaigns
Dogs Suffer and
Die In Veterinary Research
NEAVS Revisits Tufts' Ethics and Practices
In late 2003, NEAVS was approached by students from Tufts University
School of Veterinary Medicine's (TUSVM) Animals and Public Policy
Program with concerns about a terminal experiment involving 6 dogs
whose both back legs were broken to examine different applications
of a fixator. One dog died of an apparent infection.
Veterinary and graduate students attempted to negotiate to prevent
the killing of the dogs. Despite these efforts and the enormous
outpouring of public opposition, the five remaining dogs were killed.
In response to the students, the Institutional Animal Care and Use
Committee (IACUC) asked them to find alternatives. NEAVS finds it
unacceptable that the IACUC had not demanded that the investigators
themselves find an alternative to this egregious study in the first
place. The IACUC should not have approved a study that involved
such severe injury to healthy dogs that prolonged use of morphine
was required. Nor should the IACUC have approved a study that required
that the dogs, who had completely healed from the injuries imposed
on them, be killed.
Rather than respond to the students' successful search for alternatives
to killing the dogs, the University permitted the dogs to be killed
even earlier than scheduled. (The original protocol allowed for
earlier killing contingent upon accelerated healing and IACUC approval.)
The dogs were put to death during the winter break when few students
were on campus.
The attempts by NEAVS, the students, and the public (including Tufts
donors, clients, and alumni) to spare the dogs were met by rigid
adherence to the researcher's preferences and a blatant disregard
for ethical, reasoned and heartfelt opposition.
Despite the needless killing of the dogs, the success of this campaign
is not lost. Rather, there is a second tier that is a victory for
animals in labs everywhere.
The secrecy that surrounds what is done to animals in labs on the
Tufts campus, and at campuses and research institutions nationwide,
has once again been penetrated. This is a victory.
Students found their courage and their voice, and they took the
risk to counter attempts to silence them. This is a victory. The
public had an opportunity to tell Tufts how it felt about this kind
of research. This community, including caring scientists, weighed
in with an emphatic "no." This is a major victory.
The public was enlightened. NEAVS answered their questions: Yes,
this kind of research is still going on; no, this is not legally
"considered animal cruelty"; yes, even an institution
that prides itself in its ethical signature is not beyond animal
research at its worst. The caring public rejected the rhetoric that
attempts to make cruel and unnecessary animal experiments acceptable.
NEAVS, Tufts' present and past students, clients and donors as well
as people from throughout New England, the nation and other countries,
let Tufts know that more is expected from an institution founded
on principles of humane veterinary education, practice and
research.
We ask that Tufts commit its ample biomedical research dollars and
faculty to non-invasive, non-lethal clinical research and to utilize
or develop alternatives. We ask that Tufts uphold its reputation
as the ethical signature school of veterinary medicine. The students
and NEAVS and the public have drafted letters to the Dean and to
the head of the IACUC committee with a list of clear, scientifically
valid and ethically imperative demands. Our campaign will continue
until Tufts again steps up to the plate of progressive ethical policy
change. This kind of experiment must not happen again.
NEAVS is available to current and future students, technicians,
faculty and administrators in pursuit of the noble goal of ending
animal experimentation and developing better science.
For information on how you can help please contact NEAVS at: info@neavs.org
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