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A debate of mice and men Recent actions by animal rights activists have prompted discussion of
UCLA’s research practices By Lindsey Morgan The balancing act between ethics and necessity has proven itself to
be a touchy subject in the world of animal research at UCLA over the
past few months. While the university consistently points to many positive medical
advances that have developed from the use of animal research on campus,
and university spokesmen say it follows stringent regulations, protests
and activity by animal rights activist groups have risen in intensity
beginning this last summer. Research coordinator Emmanuel Masongsong, a vegan, faced a quandary
involving these two standpoints on animal research earlier this year at
his job at UCLA. Masongsong, a UCLA alumnus, disagrees with the use of animals in
research on ethical grounds, personally abstaining as much as possible
from eating or using animal products. But at the beginning of the summer, the research team he works with
began attempts to trace the growth of a cancer-causing virus in human
tissues implanted in host mice. The potential implications he believes the research could have for
health worldwide, including preventing cervical cancer, led Masongsong
to choose to assist his team despite his personal disagreement with the
principles of animal research. "There's really no other avenue at this point that would allow us to
correctly investigate the characteristics of the virus that we need to,
and I just have to live with that," Masongsong said. Research involving the development of the artificial heart, gene
therapy for cancer, a tuberculosis vaccine and radiation therapy have
been cited in UCLA press releases as examples of the benefits of animal
research taking place at the university. Masongsong is currently involved in a research project affiliated
with the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA, which includes
infecting human tissues in mice with the human papilloma virus type 16,
then killing the mice in order to analyze their tissues. As a vegan, his involvement in the research has been limited at his
own request to aspects outside the lab, such as sample processing and
DNA extraction, Masongsong said. Those who disagree with animal research should understand that "not
all animal researchers are doing it just because it's easy or just
because they're not trying hard enough," Masongsong said. Sometimes research really does require animals in order to move
forward, he said. The team decided to engage in animal research in order to more fully
understand the molecular basis of how the virus interacts with the
immune system, Masongsong said. The use of SCID mice, rodents born without immune systems, allows
researchers to trace the life cycle of the virus without interference
from outside pathogens. Rodents are used for approximately 95 percent of animal research
projects at UCLA, said Phil Hampton, spokesman for UCLA. Aside from rodents, rabbits are commonly used, particularly in
studies involving antibiotic probes, said William McBride. McBride is
chairman of the UCLA Animal Research Committee, the body regulating
animal research at the university "Rabbits are very useful because they are obviously a lot larger than
a ... rat," McBride said, noting that zebra fish are also used in animal
research at UCLA. Less than 1 percent of animal research at UCLA is conducted on
primates, Hampton said. McBride said the research that is conducted at UCLA involving
primates is mostly behavioral. "It's certainly a misconception that people have that these animals
are used for bizarre experiments," he said. Law and compliance As a research university, UCLA is committed to pursuing animal
research on its campus because such research allows advances leading to
breakthroughs in medical knowledge to continue to be possible, said
acting Chancellor Norman Abrams in a statement released in August. No research is done on animals if it can be done another way, and
researchers try to take excellent care of their research subjects, said
Roberto Peccei, vice chancellor for research. "It is in the interest of the investigator to try and treat their
animals in the best possible way," Peccei said. In rodent studies involving tumor growth, for instance, there is a
maximum size to which tumors are allowed to grow, and if there is a
pattern of animals having overly large tumors, the research will be
stopped, Peccei said. Approximately 10 research cases every year have a problem with the
care of their animals, which amount to about 1 percent of the research
projects taking place at UCLA. The most common problems are usually
large tumors on animals being used for cancer research and animals
getting off their feeding schedule, Peccei said. McBride said pictures that animal rights activists show claiming they
prove abuse of research subjects are about 40 years old, from a time
before the Animal Welfare Act or any other regulations on animal
research. Animal research projects are subject to multiple regulations and
approvals before they are allowed to proceed at UCLA. All animal research that takes place in the United States is
regulated by the Animal Welfare Act, the only federal law in the country
regulating the treatment of animals in research and setting the minimum
acceptable standard for treatment of such animals. It is enforced by the
United States Department of Agriculture. The act defines "animals" as any live or dead dog, cat, nonhuman
primate, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit and wild animal species intended
for use in animal research. According to the UCLA Animal Care and Use
Training Manual, it does not cover farm animals, birds or laboratory
rats and mice. UCLA also enforces multiple voluntary recommendations regarding
animal research, McBride said. All of the scientists who investigate animals at UCLA must have their
proposed project approved by the Animal Research Committee, which then
monitors the project for its duration, McBride said. A desire for transparency Taimie Bryant, a professor at the UCLA School of Law who specializes
in animal law, said the Animal Welfare Act is not enough to ensure
proper treatment of animals. Bryant believes more transparency of UCLA research procedures is the
only way the university can assure the public that its animal research
practices are in line with ethics as well as law. "I think you could write a whole article about the secrecy
surrounding animal research at UCLA," Bryant said. Aside from the Animal Welfare Act and what information is requested
through the California Public Records Act, researchers are not subject
to any accountability, Bryant said. This particularly holds true to disclosure of animal research
practices to the general population. "There's no law that requires them to make their approach, their
protocol, their practices known to the public," Bryant said. She believes part of the reason there has been such a spate of
extreme activity by animal activists lies in the lack of any law
requiring animal researchers to disclose their activity to the public.
"I find it discrediting that they won't participate in any
discussion," Bryant said, adding that researchers should talk about the
value and actual protocol of the research they do if they think it is
legitimate science. A new direction for activists Animal research at UCLA has recently been brought to the forefront of
public attention because of escalating protests by animal rights
activists, some of which have taken violent turns. The home of Lynn Fairbanks, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral
sciences who has published multiple articles on the social interactions
of vervet monkeys, was the target of an attempted firebombing in June by
the Animal Liberation Front. The FBI classified the incident as a terrorist attack. The Animal Liberation Front accused Fairbanks of conducting painful
addiction experiments on monkeys in a posting to the Web site North
American Animal Liberation Press Office. ALF accusations saying Fairbanks abused primates are "rubbish,
absolute rubbish," McBride said. Another North American Animal Liberation Press Office release accused
Dario Ringach, associate professor of neuroscience, of paralyzing
macaque monkeys before gluing coils to their eyes. The release said Ringach sent an e-mail in August to the press office
saying, "You win. Effective immediately, I am no longer doing animal
research." The release also said that the e-mail requested that animal rights
groups leave Ringach's family alone. The research Ringach was doing was very useful, but he was concerned
for the safety of his family, Peccei said. Acting Chancellor Norman Abrams announced in August that, in response
to the increase in the number of illegal and often violent acts by
animal rights activists, the university would be investigating potential
legal action. The statement also said UCLA would implement new security measures to
protect faculty and their families. But in a Sept. 8 interview, Abrams said no legal steps had yet been
taken against activists. On Sunday, the El Segundo home of a software businessman named Brian
J. Malone was targeted as a protest site by animal rights activists. Malone, who was not at home but was informed of the incident by a
friend watching his house, said people picketed his entire block,
handing out fliers to his neighbors and using megaphones. A post-graduate researcher at UCLA is also named Brian Malone. The businessman said he thinks he may have been mistaken for the
researcher, and is now worried about potential vandalism to his house.
"I've got a bunch of neighbors thinking that I'm a monkey killer,"
Nonviolent activism Some animal rights activists say the recent activities at UCLA by
extremist activist groups have made their own efforts toward ethical
treatment of animals less well-received. The attempted bombing has made an open dialogue about animal research
difficult, said Kristy Anderson, a fourth-year geography and
environmental studies student and president of the UCLA student group
Students for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. And Michael Budkie, the director of Stop Animal Exploitation NOW!
believes UCLA is using the recent attempted firebombing of a
researcher's house to mischaracterize all animal rights activity as
terrorism. Many of the people who attended an animal rights protest march on
campus Monday were involved with Budkie's organization. In an effort to do away with what she perceives as an impression of
all animal rights activists as terrorists, Anderson said she is
concentrating her efforts this year on meeting with campus
administration to directly relay her concerns. She feels this has gotten
more results than have past activities she has participated in, such as
protesting. "We want to get the message across that not everyone who cares about
animals is an extremist or terrorist," Anderson said. Anderson met with Peccei twice over the summer to discuss items of
concern to the group, including potentially implementing a policy
allowing freedom of choice for dissection in classroom situations,
Anderson said. "I feel more effective in this way," Anderson said.
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