ANIMAL ADVOCATES CALL FOR TIGHTER RESEARCH OVERSIGHT, BLAST “INTELLECTUAL FRAUD” DURING “WORLD WEEK FOR ANIMALS IN LABS”

Mill Valley, Calif. (April 19, 2004) – Each year in the United States, an estimated 20 to 30 million animals are subjected to invasive, painful experiments, genetically manipulated, poisoned with chemicals, burned and blinded. The majority of these animals receive no legal protection whatsoever because many species (rats, mice, birds) are specifically excluded from current animal welfare laws. Animal advocates, fed up with the status quo, are taking their protests against animal experiments and abuse to the streets the week of April 17th – 25th for World Week for Animals in Laboratories (WWAIL). Nearly a hundred events are scheduled across the United States.

In Defense of Animals (IDA) is coordinating WWAIL. This year, IDA is urging a congressional investigation into the alleged fraud, mismanagement, and misuse of NIH-funded research. Just last month, the Minneapolis Star Tribune called into serious question that reliance when it published a devastating expose – based on evidence provided by IDA – demonstrating that Dr. Fatih Uckun, an NIH funded researcher, deliberately withheld the fact that three of eight chimpanzees died in tests of the drug TXU-PAP in both a published medical journal article and a U.S. patent application. The tests occurred at The Coulston Foundation, one of the largest primate testing labs in the world; IDA had investigated Coulston for eight years before finally forcing its closure in 2002. The Star Tribune quoted ethics Professor J. David Bleich as calling Dr. Uckun’s withholding of the deaths “intellectual fraud.” Despite this, the NIH still funded human clinical trials of the drug – a drug in which Dr. Uckun has a financial interest. Detailed information regarding this case, including IDA’s complaint to the Congressional committee that is currently investigating the NIH’s oversight and management of billions of dollars in publicly funded grants, is available at www.idausa.org/txu. The Star Tribune article is available at www.idausa.org/txu/startribune.pdf.

“Researchers invariably claim that animal experiments are tightly regulated, but in reality facilities and researchers are allowed to police themselves,” said veterinarian Dr. Elliot Katz, president of In Defense of Animals. “That begs the question: How many other Fatih Uckuns are out there, misrepresenting data and abusing animals?” Katz noted that neither the NIH nor the medical journal that published the article knew of Dr. Uckun’s withholding of the chimpanzee deaths until the Star Tribune, armed with the IDA evidence, contacted them.

“When people learn about the ongoing cruelty to animals that is commonplace in animal experimentation and the lack of oversight of researchers like Dr. Fatih Uckun, they should be appalled,” concluded Dr. Katz. “We hope that this World Week for Animals in Laboratories will raise awareness of this important issue, and we urge the House Committee on Energy and Commerce to investigate this latest example of animal research malfeasance.”

IDA is an international animal protection and rescue organization based in Mill Valley, California. In 2002, the group made history by forcing the closure of The Coulston Foundation after an eight-year campaign. Evidence of violations at the Coulston lab exposed by IDA led to Congress’s current investigation of the NIH.

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