I came accoss this phrase in Nicholson Baker's book Baseless: My Search for Secrets in the Ruins of the Freedom of Information Act. (Penguin Press, 2020). It was the strategy used by the CIA in its claims that it had not engaged in bio-warfare.
I was struck by how aptly the phrase captures universities' statements whenever details of their use of animals make it into the news cycle.
Saturday, March 20, 2021
Monday, March 15, 2021
Sunday, March 14, 2021
Parkinson's Breakthrough or Plain Old Hype?
You be the judge.
I'd have commented on UW-Madison's Facebook page, but I'm blocked. They are seemingly afraid of substantive dialog. And really, who can blame them? Million's of tax-payer dollars are at stake.
They recently linked to a press release from the university's PR department about purported progress in treating Parkinson's disease.
Primate Center vivisector Maria Emborg has published a paper reporting on her use of stem cells injected into the brains of monkeys who have some symptoms that mimic Parkinson's symptoms in humans.
The reason they have these symptoms is that she had injected a chemical called MPTP into their brains. [If you are interested, here are a handfull of posts concerning this hideousness.]
Now, you'd think from the press release that this was important big news. It isn't, and I'll get to that in a second. What's particularly hideous is what MPTP injected in their brains does to the monkeys. Reasonable people agree that this is just about as terrible a thing as you can do to an animal.
The reason this isn't big news, and what isn't mentioned in the press release, is that very similar research on fully consenting humans has been underway since at least the early 1990s. See Li, Wen, et al. ["Extensive graft-derived dopaminergic innervation is maintained 24 years after transplantation in the degenerating parkinsonian brain." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113.23 (2016): 6544-6549.]
Research using fully consenting humans is the only ethical way to proceed, and probably the smartest.
A bit of trivia: Check out her public funding history.
I'd have commented on UW-Madison's Facebook page, but I'm blocked. They are seemingly afraid of substantive dialog. And really, who can blame them? Million's of tax-payer dollars are at stake.
They recently linked to a press release from the university's PR department about purported progress in treating Parkinson's disease.
Primate Center vivisector Maria Emborg has published a paper reporting on her use of stem cells injected into the brains of monkeys who have some symptoms that mimic Parkinson's symptoms in humans.
The reason they have these symptoms is that she had injected a chemical called MPTP into their brains. [If you are interested, here are a handfull of posts concerning this hideousness.]
Now, you'd think from the press release that this was important big news. It isn't, and I'll get to that in a second. What's particularly hideous is what MPTP injected in their brains does to the monkeys. Reasonable people agree that this is just about as terrible a thing as you can do to an animal.
The reason this isn't big news, and what isn't mentioned in the press release, is that very similar research on fully consenting humans has been underway since at least the early 1990s. See Li, Wen, et al. ["Extensive graft-derived dopaminergic innervation is maintained 24 years after transplantation in the degenerating parkinsonian brain." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113.23 (2016): 6544-6549.]
Research using fully consenting humans is the only ethical way to proceed, and probably the smartest.
A bit of trivia: Check out her public funding history.
Saturday, March 13, 2021
UW-Madison refuses own medicine....
Long-time observers will not be surprised that a letter which appeared in the Mar 11, 2021, Capital Times pointing to the gross discrepency between a UW-Madison National Primate Research Center factsheet on pet monkeys and the Primate Center's own practices led to the university deleting the factsheet almost immediately and replacing it with a less embarrassing substitute. Ryan Hartkopf: UW-Madison, are you sure you want a monkey?
I guess they embrace the 'do as I say, not as I do' philosophy.
See the archived fact sheet here (you have to scroll down), and the gutted version without mention of the minimumly humane cage size here.
The cage-size standard in labs using monkeys must meet the minimum cage sizes stipulated in the Animal Welfare Act. Subpart D: Specifications for the Humane Handling, Care, Treatment, and Transportation of Nonhuman Primates stipulates that cages for young and female macaques must have at least 4.3 sq. ft. of floor space and be at least 30" high. Adult male macaques must have 6 sq.ft. of floor space and be at least 32" high. In the deleted Fact Sheet, the university says, "The minimum cage size for the smallest monkey is 4ft x 6ft x 6ft. That's 24 square feet of floor space, almost four times the floor space and two and a half times taller than is required by the Animal Wefare Act.
This is the reality of the housing used by the primate labs:
Kudos to letter writer Ryan Hartkopf for taking the time to read and think about what the university says it does and what it actually does to to animals. And kudos likewise to the Captital Times for publicing his letter.
I guess they embrace the 'do as I say, not as I do' philosophy.
See the archived fact sheet here (you have to scroll down), and the gutted version without mention of the minimumly humane cage size here.
The cage-size standard in labs using monkeys must meet the minimum cage sizes stipulated in the Animal Welfare Act. Subpart D: Specifications for the Humane Handling, Care, Treatment, and Transportation of Nonhuman Primates stipulates that cages for young and female macaques must have at least 4.3 sq. ft. of floor space and be at least 30" high. Adult male macaques must have 6 sq.ft. of floor space and be at least 32" high. In the deleted Fact Sheet, the university says, "The minimum cage size for the smallest monkey is 4ft x 6ft x 6ft. That's 24 square feet of floor space, almost four times the floor space and two and a half times taller than is required by the Animal Wefare Act.
This is the reality of the housing used by the primate labs:
Kudos to letter writer Ryan Hartkopf for taking the time to read and think about what the university says it does and what it actually does to to animals. And kudos likewise to the Captital Times for publicing his letter.
Sunday, March 7, 2021
In Spite of Recent Fine, UW-Madison Still Racking-Up Animal Welfare Violations.
On April 15, 2020, the USDA cited and fined the University of Wisconsin, Madison $74,000 for twenty-three violations of the Animal Welfare Act that occurred between March 4, 2015 and April 25, 2019; about 6 violations a year. The university responded to the citations in an article in the Wisconsin State Journal:
On or about April 20, 2020, a monkey was given an overdose of an experimental drug.
On or about June 4, 2020, a monkey went eight hours without post-operative analgesia.
On July 13, 2020, a monkey escaped when being transferred to a transport device and sustained a severe injury to the end of their tail. The injury was not noticed for two weeks.
On July 17, 2020, a monkey escaped from a transport device and injured their tongue. Two other monkeys in the room also sustained injuries during interactions with the escaped monkey.
Numerous violations of the Public Health Service Policy on the Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals have also continued since the citation was issued.
It is likely that the only agency the university reported the problems to was OLAW, the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare. OLAW does not cite nor fine institutions for animal welfare violations. OLAW is a tiny agency within the National Institutes of Health, which is part of the United States Public Health Service, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.
It remains to be seen exactly why it took three and a half months for the public to learn about the fine. The university is so quick to announce anything that buffs its image.
Not mentioned in the article were the rest of the violations. As mentioned above, the fine was imposed by the USDA which enforces the Animal Welfare Act. With only a few rare exceptions the Animal Welfare Act does not apply to mice, rats, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, or animals used in agricultural research. So, the USDA fined the university only for violations involving animals covered by the Animal Welfare Act.
The university was not cited or fined for its violations of the PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The Policy applies to all Public Health Service-“conducted or supported activities involving animals…”. The Policy defines animal: “Any live, vertebrate animal used or intended for use in research, research training, experimentation, or biological testing or for related purposes.”
Since April 15, 2020, the university has reported PHS Policy violations involving more than 50 animals.
All of the reports submitted by the university to OLAW are available here.
Note: Local papers have shown no interest in the recurring violations. It seems that unless there is a fine, the university's law-breaking harm to animals isn't news.
What a world.
Most of the problems described in the most recent settlement were immediately reported by campus staff to federal agencies, according to university spokeswoman Kelly Tyrrell. UW-Madison took steps to prevent future violations, including upgrading procedures, equipment and staffing, long before the settlement was reached April 15 and the fine was paid April 29. [UW-Madison fined $74,000 over care of research animals. Kelly Meyerhofer. Wisconsin State Journal. Jul 30, 2020.]But the violations of the Animal Welfare Act continue at an apparently even greater rate.
On or about April 20, 2020, a monkey was given an overdose of an experimental drug.
On or about June 4, 2020, a monkey went eight hours without post-operative analgesia.
On July 13, 2020, a monkey escaped when being transferred to a transport device and sustained a severe injury to the end of their tail. The injury was not noticed for two weeks.
On July 17, 2020, a monkey escaped from a transport device and injured their tongue. Two other monkeys in the room also sustained injuries during interactions with the escaped monkey.
Numerous violations of the Public Health Service Policy on the Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals have also continued since the citation was issued.
It is likely that the only agency the university reported the problems to was OLAW, the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare. OLAW does not cite nor fine institutions for animal welfare violations. OLAW is a tiny agency within the National Institutes of Health, which is part of the United States Public Health Service, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services.
It remains to be seen exactly why it took three and a half months for the public to learn about the fine. The university is so quick to announce anything that buffs its image.
Not mentioned in the article were the rest of the violations. As mentioned above, the fine was imposed by the USDA which enforces the Animal Welfare Act. With only a few rare exceptions the Animal Welfare Act does not apply to mice, rats, fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, or animals used in agricultural research. So, the USDA fined the university only for violations involving animals covered by the Animal Welfare Act.
The university was not cited or fined for its violations of the PHS Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. The Policy applies to all Public Health Service-“conducted or supported activities involving animals…”. The Policy defines animal: “Any live, vertebrate animal used or intended for use in research, research training, experimentation, or biological testing or for related purposes.”
Since April 15, 2020, the university has reported PHS Policy violations involving more than 50 animals.
All of the reports submitted by the university to OLAW are available here.
Note: Local papers have shown no interest in the recurring violations. It seems that unless there is a fine, the university's law-breaking harm to animals isn't news.
What a world.