To the editor:
Steve Ackerman and Jon Levine’s op-ed was misleading. (Humane research will help stop the virus. Nov 21, 2020.) They falsely assert that research using animals at the university is “humane, well-regulated, transparent.” The USDA Office of the Inspector General has repeatedly noted problems with the regulation of animal research and has found that the small fines levied by regulators, even when serious violations have been discovered, are considered by the labs as just a cost of doing business. [https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/33002-03-SF.pdf] The university’s recent $74,000 fine is a case in point. The UW’s National Primate Research Center alone receives about $10 million a year. The lie is put to notion that the research is humane simply by watching the videos of the disturbed monkeys brought to light by Peta’s undercover investigation. And transparent? When a single video referenced in a scientific paper was requested under Wisconsin’s public records law, the university shredded 628 videos and uncounted photographs and documents; they clearly didn’t want them to be seen by the public. [https://isthmus.com/news/news/primate-tapes-get-trashed/] There is much about the op-ed that is misleading but space does not allow a full discussion. Rick Bogle