L0tt0|* Continued from Page 4
one-sided material, the judge
disallowed the defense, Mr.
Troen pleaded guilty, and the
University of Oregon's re
sponse to the allegations was
never heard.
Without attempting to re
spond to every claim made by
F’KTA, I would like to make the
following points about research
using animals at the University
of Oregon.
During the past five years,
funding for research in areas
utilizing animals has more than
doubled at the University; dur
ing this same period the use of
animals other than fish, mice
and rats has been reduced by
about 60 percent.
The University’s animal fa
cilities are inspected at least
monthly by the U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture, but have
not been cited for even a minor
problem in the past year. We
received a particularly detailed
inspection on May 24; no prob
lems wore found.
All current use of cats and
monkeys in research have been
reviewed by the full Institution
al Animal Care and Use Com
mittee (1ACUC) prior to the
submission of proposals. These
reviews typically result in rec
ommendations for improving
the animal care and use. which
are always followed.
Dr. Gordon-Lickey’s current
NIH grant ends on June 30,
1988. Her renewal proposal re
ceived a very high priority
score by the NIH peer review
panel, and has been accepted
for funding effective July 1,
1988. Her research is not in the
area of pain, but of the visual
system, supported by the Eye
Institute.
Many of the incidents quoted
by PETA happened many years
ago, and in no way reflect cur
rent practice at the University.
For example, the so-called
"joke photo” of Greg Stickrod
on page 5 was taken in 1974. I
in no way condone such activi
ties, and can assure you that
they have not occurred at the
University in the past four
years, and probably no in the
past ten years.
The University has under
construction a complete new
animal care facility. With this
facility we expect to be able to
obtain AAAI.AC accreditation,
the highest level of accredit
ation available, and one which
substantially exceeds the re
quirements of the NIH.
We have discussed the situa
tion hem at length with repre
sentatives of Director
Wyngarden's office of the NIH,
as well as of the Office for Pro
tection from Research Risks.
They have concluded that there
are no substantive reasons to
Investigation
Continued from Page 1
added. Moseley said OPRR offi
cials have yet to contact him.
He also charged that PETA
has singled out the University’s
animal research program be
cause of negative publicity gen
erated by the trial of Roger
Troen, the sole suspect convict
ed in the Oct. 26, 1986 Animal
Liberation Front raid on the
school's animal care facilities.
“They're (PETA) trying to
make an example of us. They’re
not out picking on the big boys
because those institutions are
more protected — they have
more people involved with
fending off the attacks of
PETA," Moseley said.
In underscoring Moseley’s
remarks, Newkirk said, "I’d
really like to see the University
of Oregon animal labs closed
down as an example of the
worst kind of use of animals,
from a scientific perspective, a
humane perspective and from a
funding perspective.”
conduct further investigations
of animal care and use here,
but have stated that they might
be forced to conduct a formal
investigation for political rea
sons. Obviously, we would like
to avoid such an investigation
due to the negative public rela
tions aspect, but we have no
concerns that significant nega
tive findings would occur.
The University of Oregon has
never restricted the research
that a faculty member performs
with the support of peer-re
viewed unclassified basic re
search funding from an agency
of the federal government. 1
doubt that any major university
has ever restricted such re
search. To do so would be a
blatant violation of the very
fundamentals of academic free
dom. In sensitive areas such as
research using animals we try
to be especially careful that all
regulations are followed, and I
am confident that we have suc
ceeded in the cases under con
sideration here.
I regret that you (and we)
must respond to these attacks.
The issue should really be de
bated at the national level —
the use of animals at the Uni
versity of Oregon is very small
compared even with most other
major universities. Our biologi
cal research is much more di
rected towards cells and
biomolecules. Unfortunately,
our success in bringing one of
the Animal Liberation Front
supporters to trial has placed
us at the focus of a national
concern. We appreciate your
support in helping us to ex
plain the fact that animal care
and use at the University of Or
egon meets very high standards
today, and that we are con
stantly working towards im
proving it.
Sincerely,
John Moseley,
Vice President for Research
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