IDA Halts Medical Supplies Sales Trainings that have Killed more than 200 Animals at UCDHSC

Campus officials claim lethal labs are not part of University's core mission

Denver, Colo.—After learning that at least 18 dogs and 191 pigs were killed at the University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center (UCDHSC) during sales training workshops for Valleylab, an electrosurgery systems manufacturer, international animal protection organization In Defense of Animals (IDA) questioned three University of Colorado (CU) Regents, resulting in the cessation of the labs.

Rita Anderson, Director of the Committee for Research Accountability (CRA), a project of IDA, was responsible for acquiring and reviewing about 350 pages of documents obtained from an open records request about the labs, and immediately notified the CU Regents. She soon learned that the university planned to immediately terminate the lethal demonstrations. In an email forwarded by a CU Regent, the university’s attorney stated, "The campus has decided to stop these activities because it is not part of UCDHSC's core mission. Therefore, the campus will no longer allow our facilities to be used for programs where the sole purpose is the training of sales personnel."

Since 2000, Valleylab, a division of Tyco Healthcare, has paid CU to train its sales staff in the use of the company's medical equipment using UCDHSC staff and facilities. Over 100 of these staff training labs have been conducted during that time. Of the university's decision, Anderson stated, "I applaud UCDHSC officials for taking immediate action as soon as this situation was brought to their attention."

UCDHSC's arrangement with Valleylab is reminiscent of a recent incident at the Cleveland Clinic in which a neurosurgeon killed a dog as part of a medical device sales demonstration of a machine manufactured by Micrus Endovascular Corp, sparking national outcry over the unnecessary use of live animals for medical sales demonstrations. IDA and other animal protection groups argued that the dog's life could have been spared if the doctor had instead used a high-tech silicone model that is equally or more effective for training sales staff in the use of medical equipment.

Whereas the Micrus demonstration rapidly drew controversy over the death of a single dog, UCDHSC has killed over 200 animals in the past six years. Making matters worse, all of the dogs killed in UCDHSC's facilities were purchased from Class B dealers. These "random-source" animal dealers obtain a variety of animals from pounds, shelters, auctions, classified ads and through other means. Some have even been convicted of stealing dogs and cats from their homes and selling them to research institutions for experimentation.

For the past several years, Anderson has spearheaded a much-publicized campaign to end widely criticized primate experiments taking place at UCDHSC led by researcher Mark Laudenslager. Her efforts bore fruit in September 2006 when 11 of the "CU-34" bonnet macaque monkeys used in these studies were sent to a Texas primate sanctuary. "In light of years of maternal separation and alcohol studies on monkeys and now this Valleylab issue," said Anderson, "my concern is that we do not know what else is being done behind the locked doors of CU's laboratories."