More cocaine-addicted birds and other ridiculous experiments in store if Senate passes $10 billion stimulus NIH giveaway

Watchdog group warns of oversight debacle

Washington, DC—Ridiculous taxpayer-supported experiments, like those that have evaluated toy preference in monkeys or the effect of cocaine on Japanese birds, will continue unabated if the $10 billion Senate giveaway to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) survives the conference committee process, the research watchdog group In Defense of Animals (IDA) warned today. A bank-bailout-like debacle is on the horizon, the group says, if serious reform and oversight measures are not included with any NIH stimulus money.

Citing recent demographic research that identified high rates of misconduct and an "old boy" network in the NIH grant system that supports "ageing cash cows" at universities "on the NIH dole," IDA today called upon members of the Stimulus Package conference committee to strip blanket funding for NIH research, especially the $6.5 billion diverted by the Senate from aid to needy states.

"In these dire economic times, it is outrageous for Congress to take funds away from states and direct human services to funnel $10 billion into a broken NIH system that amounts essentially to white-coated welfare," said IDA president Elliot Katz, DVM, noting that researchers have blamed the past doubling of the NIH's budget for many of the current problems. "We urge Congress not only to reject this boondoggle, but also to ramp up the investigation it began in 2003 based on grave concerns about NIH oversight of grants."

In a letter to conference committee members, IDA cited just a few examples of literally thousands of wasteful experiments that have been funded by our tax dollars. In addition to the toy preference study, which concluded that juvenile female monkeys preferred plush toys while male monkeys preferred wheeled toys, IDA highlighted these experiments:

  • Nipple preference in nursing infant monkeys.
  • Effect of high-fat diets on mice sleep. (Made mice fat and sleepy.)
  • Effect of stress and isolation on voles. (Prairie voles had less anxiety than meadow voles.)
  • Effect of mouse social separation on wound healing. (Affected monogamous mice, not polygnous mice.)
  • Effect of exercise on rat health. (Rats who exercised were healthier.)

For a list of more ridiculous experiments click here. For more information see www.idausa.org.