OSU under fire for animal testing

Columbus Dispatch ^ | 07 July 2004 | Sarah Frank

[Deadeye Division]

OSU under fire for animal testing

School says mice, rats necessary for research on spinal-

cord injuries

Saturday, July 17, 2004

Sarah Frank

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

They didn’t hear a peep last year.

This summer, however, about a dozen Ohio State University researchers have found themselves the targets of a national group that opposes the school’s use of live rats and mice in a government-funded course.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, based in Washington, wants the university to dump its second annual Spinal Cord Injury Techniques Course, which uses mice and rats to teach researchers how to perform spinalcord injury experiments.

Instructors ordered about 120 rats and 60 mice for the three-week course, which starts Monday and is funded by a five-year contract from the National Institutes of Health.

The course, which is not part of Ohio State’s curriculum, is geared toward graduate students, professors and researchers from around the world.

The spinal cord is part of the central nervous system. It communicates information from the brain to the body. When the spinal cord is injured, some or all of that communication is cut off.

Members of the nonprofit physicians committee say using animals to teach the course is outdated and unnecessary.

"These sort of techniques that sacrifice animals are used in extraordinary amounts for less than extraordinary reasons," said Howard White, spokesman for the Washington-based group.

OSU faculty and researchers teaching the course disagree, and say that there is no way to teach the course without live animals. Ohio State hosts the only NIHfunded program of this type in the nation. "We share techniques we’ve developed to do these experiments in a reliable way," said Michael Beattie, chairman of the OSU Department of Neuroscience. "If these people tried to do them on their own, it would be trial and error." This isn’t the first time an OSU animal program has been criticized. In 2000, animal-rights groups aimed protests at Dr. Michael Podell. The former veterinary re- searcher used cats to attempt to observe the effect of methamphetamines on the spread of HIV.

His grant later was placed on hold and Podell eventually left the university, charging that OSU officials had not backed him up on the research.

The research, however, has been revised and the funding has resumed.

In the spinal-cord experiments, a small incision is made in each animal and a piece of bone is removed to expose the spinal cord. A robotic tool then moves the spine about 1 millimeter to damage it.

The animals are under anesthesia during the process.

Researchers observe the animals during the course to see how the damaged spinal cord affects motion. After the course, the animals are killed, and some tissues may be saved for experiments in other programs, said Jacqueline Bresnahan, associate dean for basic research at the College of Medicine.

Using animals for research is a hot-button issue, she said, but it leads to major medical breakthroughs.

"Each animal is a resource and we view each animal as a resource. And we do not take this lightly," said Bresnahan, who is also a course instructor. "It’s important to try to tackle this devastating injury so that people don’t have to spend the rest of their lives in wheelchairs."

sfrank@dispatch.com

[CharlotteVRWC]

Those extreme animal rights activists make me sick. Maybe getting Christopher Reeve to speak on OSU's behalf would be helpful. Also, I'm surprised that the gay lobby haven't spoken out against the activists that are against some of the AIDS research...

[Deadeye Division]

Bump