PETA report criticizes Yale on treatment of rodents in research – New Haven Register

By Ed Stannard, estannard@nhregister.com @EdStannardNHR on Twitter

NEW HAVEN >> Yale University allegedly has the fourth-worst record of mistreatment of rats and mice used in research, according to a report from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

On Monday, PETA reported its findings of animal-welfare violations at the top 20 universities that receive grants from the National Institutes of Health. The results were presented at the Tenth World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences conference in Seattle.

Through Freedom of Information Act requests, PETA found that between Jan. 1, 2015, and April 1, 2017, there were 430 violations of agreements each of the 20 universities has with the Public Health Service. Those agreements are a condition of receiving NIH grants.

Yale had 39 violations, almost twice the average of 21.5 which means Yale is doing significantly more poorly than average, according to Alka Chandna, PETAs chief of laboratory case management.

Yale received $314 million in NIH grants in 2016, PETA said.

Among the alleged violations at Yale, according to PETA:

A mouse rack with 141 cages was disconnected from the automatic watering system, resulting in nine deaths and 93 other mice showing sever signs of dehydration where their bodies were totally hunched, Chandna said. Thats upwards of 700 mice that didnt have water.

In two incidents, 13 mouse pups starved to death because they couldnt reach the food they were given.

One mouse died among 13 cages of mice with head implants found without food.

Rats and mice were experimented on without being given pain relief, subjecting mice to skin incisions and intracranial injections and exposing the animals to hazardous agents without approval from the universitys oversight body, the press release said.

Two mice drowned when a cage was placed in a rack backwards.

Mice and rats make up 95 percent of experimental animals but they are excluded from the federal Animal Welfare Act, PETA said.

When you have experimenters routinely deviating from protocols that had been approved by Yales Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, what you have is a culture of absolute disregard for the minimal provisions that are in place to protect [mice and rats] from harm, Chandna said.

In all, the 20 universities received $6.1 billion from the NIH in 2016, according to PETA. These institutions that are receiving so much money are failing the public theyre wasting taxpayer dollars and failing science, Chandna said. She said experimenting on a mouse without using anesthesia is going to impact the data that youre going to get out of the mouse. Your study might prove useless.

Chandna said the reports received from the universities do not give details about what the experiments were for.

In a statement, Yale spokesman Karen Peart said, Yale takes seriously its responsibility for the appropriate care of animals; our laboratories comply with or exceed all federal regulations and independent accreditation standards. As Yale faculty members and staff researchers advance scientific knowledge and modern medicine, providing hope for patients and their families, they are committed to the appropriate use of animals in research. Our faculty members employ animals only when there are no alternative models for advancing their research.

From antibiotics and blood transfusions to dialysis and organ transplantations, nearly every modern treatment to cure disease and control pain is based on knowledge gained through animal research, Peart said. She said Yale researchers are studying treatments and diagnostic tools for diseases such as Parkinsons, lung cancer, HIV/AIDS, cystic fibrosis, Alzheimers and muscular dystrophy, all of which rely on animal models.

The three universities with the most violations were the University of Minnesota with 60, the University of Pittsburgh (53) and the University of Michigan (52), PETA reported.

Billions in tax dollars are going to universities that are in flagrant violation of their animal-care agreements with the government, said Frances Cheng, one of the studys authors, in the release. Yet the NIH imposes no penalty for drowning, starving, suffocating, or denying pain relief and veterinary care to mice and rats.

PETAs position is unapologetically that we believe that animals, because they can suffer, should not be used in experiments where they can suffer and be killed, Chandna said. Our vision of an ideal world is one where there are no animals in laboratories.

Call Ed Stannard at 203-680-9382.

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PETA report criticizes Yale on treatment of rodents in research - New Haven Register