Just out., August 18, 2006, Page 22, Image 22

22
JUStpUt
AUGUST 18. 2008
"R oselli
is attempting
TO APPLY HIS HOMOPHOBIC
RESEARCH ON SHEEP TO HUMANS,
AND WE FINO THAT
COMPLETELY OFFENSIVE."
—S haun G ala
"T he
BOTTOM LINE IS THAT OUR
RESEARCH IS BASIC IN NATURE.
I t
is not aimed at ' curing
HOMOSEXUALITY/ AS SOME
DETRACTORS HAVE SUGGESTED."
—C harles R oselli
S exual
E ugenics
Is OHSU spending millions to make gay sheep straight?
by Jaymee R. Cuti
hen news crept down from the hill
He continued: “The bottom line is that our research is basic in
that researchers at Oregon Health
nature. It is not aimed at ‘curing homosexuality,’ as some detractors
have suggested.”
& Sciences University found
biological roots for homosexuality,
they were met with a backlash
from both animal rights and gay rights activists.
Since 2000, principal researcher Charles
Roselli of the Department of Physiology and
Pharmacology at OHSU’s School of Medicine and
In January, PETA released a list of the “10 Worst Laboratories.”
Of the academic institutions on the list, OHSU ranked No. 8.
Laboratories landed on the list for the “worst Animal Welfare Act
violations, the largest numbers of animals killed and the most
Fredrick Stormshak of Oregon State University’s
painful and invasive experiments, and they are the least willing to
Department of Animal Sciences have been conduct­
ing research on rams (intact male sheep) to identify
make humane improvements,” according to PETA’s Web site,
their sexual orientation.
Every year more than 200 sheep are given “preference
tests,” then coded “female-oriented” for straight and “male-
oriented” for gay. The project, which is funded through 2008,
then exposes the sheep to a variety of hormone manipulation
experiments in an attempt to alter their sexuality.
Almost immediately, animal rights activists from national
and local groups began speaking out against Roselli’s work, some
calling his research “sexual eugenics.”
www.stopanimaltests.com.
OHSU earned its spot on the list mostly for accusations concern­
ing its Regional Primate Center. The center is home to more than
4,000 primates and uses more than 900 of them in experiments,
including tobacco and nicotine research, maternal deprivation and
pregnancy studies, according to the site.
The university laboratory also uses nearly 2,000 other nonrodent
animals, including pigs and Roselli’s sheep.
“OHSU s steady stream of useless and cruel research has earned
The scientists themselves, in grant applications to the National
it a spot on our list,” the site stated.
Roselli contends that sheep in his study, which are housed at
Institute of Health, a part of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, have alluded to their work’s possible correlations to
OSU’s Sheep Research Facility, are well cared for and monitored on
a daily basis by personnel with training in sheep husbandry. “We
humans. According to Roselli’s grant application, “The experiments
strongly adhere to the regulations of the Animal Welfare Act and
the animal care practices dictated by the National Institute of
proposed in this application will furnish important information that
is needed to formulate and test novel hypotheses about the biologi­
Health,” he said.
cal basis of sexual orientation in higher mammals including humans.”
Matt Mongiello, a research associate for PETA in Norfolk, Va.,
Shalin Gala, a gay research associate with People for the Ethical
compiled the list. He said undercover investigations at OHSU have
revealed filthy housing, pwr veterinary care and a lack of enrich­
Treatment of Animals (PETA), finds Roselli’s intentions insulting.
“Roselli is attempting to apply his homophobic research on sheep
to humans, and we find that completely offensive," he said.
Roselli also said that his research, which is designed to better
Miss August, pictured here at the Washington County
Fair, may be among the approximately 8 percent of
sheep that display same-sex mating behavior
B lack S heep
understand principles of mammalian sexuality, could lead to cures for
a variety of medical conditions resulting from variations in sexual
development. “A greater understanding of biological underpinnings
of partner preference, a key component of psychosexual development
may greatly assist in providing affected individuals with effective
medical services and psychological support that they may desire."
ment for the animals, resulting in neurotic behavior.
But it isn’t conditions alone that Mongiello objects to. He
considers many experiments at OHSU to be wasteful and cruel.
“Beyond the way they keep their primates, the experiments they
put them in, we find to be ridiculous. The tobacco research is partic­
ularly galling. These pregnant mother monkeys are being injected
with nicotine, and their baby monkeys are being cut out and killed,
to make smoking safer. It’s basic research that’s never going to trans­
late into anything, and monkeys are dying for it,” said Mongiello.