Editorial
IACUC needs a new
meetings policy
This is not a t ommentarv on the use of animals in
laboratory research, nor is it a discussion of the valid
ity of l)i Ric hard Marine <o's proposed experiment
Rather, it is a < riticisin of the wav the I 'niversily s In
stitute of Animal Care and I se Commission approved
Marroc co s protocol
When it was formed, the lACt’C was supposed to
measure the necessity for animal research projec.ts Kv
ery experiment goes m front of the commission, sup
posedly for .1 strong review of what will actually lake
place during the course of the lab work
Whatever the IAOT was supposed to be it isn't
Mow i ommission members give only cursorv gl.mc.es
at proposed experiments It goes without saving that
animal experiments will be approved lACl’C hear
ings. fur the most part, are anti c liuuu tic
An example is the recent decision to let Marroc co
proc eed vv ith his neurologic a I experiment The c ase re
c eivi'd much notoriety, mostly because it would in
volve the use ot mat acjue moukov s Not since the infa
mous "Martha'' case last vear have monkeys lieen used
m l Diversity experiments
Students for the Klhical Treatment of Animals op
poses the experiment In the various discussions sini e
the protoeol was announced SI I \ has questioned the
net essitv of using monkeys in the project. and raised
i one erns ovei w bother Marrot t o is medically qualified
to n ork w ith the animals
The IACI (. held a hearing on Murror.co’s case
while the ('Diversity was closed toi spring break At
the meeting, the commission went into an executive
session, despite protests from SK I A members who at
tended the hearing in hopes of airing then concerns.
SKTA t Linns tin- executive session violated Oregon
I’ublit Meeting laws The I AC II (C! contends the private
meeting was used to discuss information that was not
for public consumption.
Whatevci the reason the 1 At A (1 did not live up to
its responsibilities I lie commission is obligated to
hear both sides ot a controversial issue and then make
<1 rational decision on whether to approve the projei I
Kven if I AC! C did not break Oregon statutes, tliev
were still negligent in not giving opposing viewpoints
a ( bailee to speak
Mairoico s case is far from over It is possible the
I At l!(.'could be toned to bold anotbei pu ill it hearing
on Marrorco's protocol Such a meeting would give
SKTA and other animal research opponents the oppor
tunity to present their oh jet lions
In the future. I AC'.l (i should realize the best wav to
make a dot ision is to collect the w idest range of infor
mation.
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Hubble telescope worthy of our attention
Barring a inn hank al ni vveathei delay
llit' shuttle Discoverv uill have carried tin*
Hubble Spat t' Ielescope min earth orbit to
d<i\ where it nil! spend the next I t years
uni overing some of the universe's secrets
Seven years late because ot tethnii.il
problems and the (ihallenger disastei. the
telescope will orbit the earth for at least la
years, sending hath pictures ot mysterious
t elestial objei ts essential to our undei stand
ing the universe
Hubble's total price lag is a hettv $2 bil
lion. with an added SJIKI million a year
needed tor mamtenam e and operating < osts
(It course, there are always people critical ot
putting precious dollars into earth orbit. In
addition there are those who are apathetic
about space research, with its tar-out theo
ries and seemingly intangible benefits Hut
several fat ts about the telescope, and the
spat e program itself should be considered
Simply put the Hubble observatorv rep
resents possibly the greatest advance in ax
tronomv sim e (ialileo first started looking at
the skv with Ins telesc ope in the 17th i eu
turv Above the distortion of the earth's at
mosphere Hubble will detect objects 51)
times dimmer than those visible from the'
ground I he taint light from some of these
objects h.ts been traveling toward us lor bil
lions of years, and the telescope will view
them .is the\ are formed. In this wav . astron
omers will be able to see the beginnings of
the universe.
Tile telesc ope will also be used to detei I
planets around other stars, an essential first
step il humans are to one day visit othei so
lar systems.
In an age of mechanized warfare and
"Star Wars" missile systems. Hubble is a re
freshing t hange in the wav humans use their
technologic.il knowledge and in the wav
they use outer space itself. Several othei
projei !s are on the NASA draw ing board in
i biding probes of the sun and planets Sure
l\ funding could be found tor these projei Is
from the bloated defense budget
W hen one considers that the costs in
volved will bring humanity knowledge
about the creation of the universe itself
and that the money spent on the entire spai e
program represents a miniscule fraction of
the total I S budget the telescope is
more than a wise investment The Hubble
telescope and projects like it deserve not
unlv our attention, but our support as well
Letters___:
—— -—-— ■ i
Steelheads
Sitting m .1 i ,ift“ rt'i entlv I
overheard someone argue tti.il
sea linns should In' slaughtered
and skinned lor their hides Ills
justification lor this was that
these i realunts eat anil destroy
steeihe,id populations and
should therefore lie eliminated
To you steelhead fishermen
who think sea lions are the
source ot your problems whs
don't \ou i onsidei other tar
tors, such as man made dams
and pollutants It you have to
blame non human creatures for
your woes, you have a patheti
r ally desperate argument Sea
lions are not the problem, you
are
I very dav in the news there
is more i ontrovorsv about elim
inating the logging of old
growth There is tremendous
((iniern that jobs will be lost it
this happens
lines are more important
than people1 II some loggers
lose their jobs so be it I lieils
is a dying breed any wav. and
their demise is long overdue
I llis should he v iew ed as natll
r.tl selections There .ire lar too
many humans nil tins planet,
and nnt enough old growth
1 am what most people would
consider a radii al hei ause I be
lieve that humans ate not the
most important living < matures
on tills planet I think that the
lives ol sea lions, trees, spotted
owls, eti are mut h more im
portant and dignified than the
lives ot most humans; especial
ly those whose livelihoods are
dependent oil the destrui tion
and exploitation of other crea
tures
In m\ travels. I have seen
many xiik, uglv. violent de
strui live i real ores l-.verv one
ot them was human
Tim Webber
TCF
Extreme
On April I. I had tile extreme
honor ot wati long a lhigene po
lice ottii er apprehend a vii ious
i riminal hit yi le rider I mfortu
nateh . I didn't see the reasons
tor Ins apprehension, tint I did
see Ills tm \< le stopped and
watched in Use illation .is his
hod\ was folded over the frame
of Ills hike
I'he hiker was wearing l.yi ra
shorts and .1 I shirt the easier
to see his slim frame I’he po
liceman was wearing a helmet
.mil mirrored sunglasses, the
harder to see his face
The offii er forcefully re
moved the hii vi list from his
means of escape (the hike) and
rolled him over and tried to get
him in some sort ot body lot k I
could hear the rider saying.
"Stop, please I wasn't doing
anything
Was this extremef. 1 thought
so I thought there was much
more force than necessary, es
pet iallv following on the heels
of the infamous "tear gas par
ty" last weekend To see a bur
ly "officer of the law" repeat
edly slam a young man into the
asphalt was surprising. I
thought that it only happened
in the movies True, it is possi
ble the hiker had a weapon of
some sort, but I couldn't see
one
1 had thought that the police
student argument would not af
fei t me I new know that I was
wrong. Of course, the biker
ma\ have been breaking the;
law but that is not what 1 am
(oni t'tticd about I believe that
there was too much force used
in this apprehension of a dan
gerous i riminal
Russell Gilman
Philosophy
Barbaric
As a former journalism ma
jor. I was shocked to learn that
the school of journalism was
sponsoring the pro-vivisection
speaker. Jon Franklin, to talk
on campus April 11
In the past, I have attended
many journalism lectures on
the importance of careful re
search in order to provide accu
rate information to the public
Imagine then my amazement in
learning that the department
fell so far from its self-pro
i laimed guidelines by funding
such a misinformed speaker
According to Franklin, the
animal rights movement wants
to take us back into the dark
ages by eliminating the use of
animals lor rescan li An obvi
ous si are tai.tic , this mistakenly
projects animal rights activists
as anti-research rather than
anti-animal researi h lor they
are very nun h in favor of all
vancements but u ith altern.i
live measures
Computers and tissue i u!
lures are now able to provide
information that was previous
ly unattainable through prove
dures using live animals, so
unless there were computers
and genetic technology in the
dark ages, it is clear that the an
imal activists are not looking to
push research back, but to en
courage it as far forward from
the barbaric, medieval methods
as possible.
Careful research by the
School of lournalism would
have made it clear that sponsor
ing Franklin to speak on cam
pus means funding propagan
da.
Misha Dunlap
Knglish