Introduction to Animal Research Issues

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Introduction to Animal Research Issues
Michael T. Fallon, DVM, PhD, DACLAM Chief VMO,
ORD michael.fallon_at_va.gov / 404-732-5471
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Galen

• 150 AD. Galen begins systematic study of animal
  physiology, vivisection begins. What he learns
  is used in the practice of human medicine for the
  next 1000 years.

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Servetus, Vesalius, Harvey

• 1600 AD. By studying animals and human cadavers,
  William Harvey extends descriptions of blood
  circulation made by Servetus and Vesalius to
  correctly explain the circulation of blood.

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This image and similar from http//www.fbresearch.
org
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• 1871 Professor Henry Bowditch establishes one of
  the first vivisection laboratories in the country
  at Harvard's new medical school. It generates
  criticism from other Harvard faculty and local
  press.
• 1895 a group of Boston's most prominent citizens
  gather to form the New England Anti-Vivisection
  Society (NEAVS).

NEAVS' first office at 179A Tremont Street,
Boston
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Session at the Vivisection Laboratory 

• Late 1800s. Claude Bernard. Physiologist and
  prolific author. His students pioneer the use of
  animals in teaching physiology to medical
  students
• the laboratory is the temple of the science of
  medicine."
• ...the solution of a physiologic or pathologic
  problem often depends solely on the appropriate
  choice of the animal...

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• 1915 The Mayo Clinic hires the first full-time
  lab animal veterinarian, Simon D. Brimhall.
• 1916 a NEAVS-sponsored bill to exempt dogs from
  vivisection in Massachusetts fails to pass.

Plummer Building, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN
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1922- Diabetes Death Sentence Lifted
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1946- Beginning of Organized Animal Science
Ben Cohen Northwestern Univ
Nate Brewer Univ of Chicago
Elihu Bond Univ of Illinois
Robert Flynn Argonne Natl Labs

• 1946 Five Chicago-area vets start meeting
  monthly to discuss laboratory animal care
  problems (mid 1980s photo missing is Bob
  Schroeder).

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1950- The Animal Care Panel

• Veterinarians organize the first national meeting
  of the Animal Care Panel (now the American
  Association for Laboratory Animal Science AALAS)
  in Chicago

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Mid to late 1950s- Beginning of Modern
Discipline of Lab Animal Medicine

• 1954 National Institutes of Health (NIH) opens
  modern central service animal facilities.
• 1957 Forerunner of the American College of
  Laboratory Animal Medicine (ACLAM) incorporated.

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1958- Disease Control and Genesis of Barrier
Rodent Caging

• Dr. Lisbeth Kraft introduced the filter cage
  system for the control of mouse rotavirus and
  mouse hepatitis virus infections.

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1961- Animal Care Technician Training and VA
Appoints First Chief VMO

• Animal Technician Certification Board of Animal
  Care Panel established. First certification exam
  given with 70 technicians certified. Creation of
  the first formal training and certification
  program for animal care staff.
• Dr. Jules Cass appointed the first Chief VMO for
  VA

Dr. Jules Cass, AALAS President 1957-58, 1961
founding member of AAALAC organizing committee
(1975 photo)
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Early to mid 1960s- NIH Support of National
Regional Primate Centers
1960s meeting of regional primate center
directors and NIH officials
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1962- The First Guide

• NIH contracts with the Animal Care Panel to
  produce the Guide for Laboratory Animal
  Facilities and Care. It is released in 1963.

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1964- AAALAC Arises

• The Animal Facilities Accreditation Board of the
  Animal Care Panel becomes the American
  Association for Accreditation of Laboratory
  Animal Care (AAALAC).
• 1967- First VA animal care program becomes
  accredited.
• 1997- Last remaining VA animal care program
  becomes accredited.

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1965- Pet Theft Drives Regulations

• In 1965, a pet Dalmation (Pepper) owned by a New
  York family was missing.
• The owner recognized his dog in a news photograph
  of a group of dogs being transported for eventual
  resale to biomedical research institutions.
• The dog owner was refused entry to the holding
  facility by the dealer
• Appeals by his congressman were also refused
  the dog was sacrificed as part of an experiment
  by a NYC hospital
• Unhappy, the congressman introduced a bill to
  regulate the trade of dogs. A similar bill was
  introduced in the Senate simultaneously.
• Both bills had only marginal support and might
  have died in committee except for a supporting
  event

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February 1966 Life Magazine- Dog Concentration
Camps

• Illustrated in a Life Magazine story, a raid on a
  dog dealer's premises by a Humane Society of the
  United States agent and the Maryland State Police
  plays a significant role in creating public
  pressure for the enactment of the federal
  Laboratory Animal Welfare Act of 1966.

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1966- Animal Welfare Act Passed

• The Laboratory Animal Welfare Act of 1966
  passes on a wave of public sentiment which
  produced thousands of letters to Congress,
  protesting the alleged theft of pet dogs for sale
  to research.

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1971- NIH Laboratory Animal Policy Released

• NIH issues its first Policy, Care, and Treatment
  of Laboratory Animals, applicable to
  warm-blooded animals at institutions receiving
  or about to receive grant or contract awards.
• Subsequent revisions in both this policy and the
  Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals
  occur throughout the 1970s continue, leading to
  the 1979 requirement that all grantees performing
  funded work on vertebrates have an approved PHS
  Assurance on file.

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1982- Silver Spring Monkeys

• 17 rhesus monkeys kept in small wire cages
  inside the Institute of Behavioral Research in
  Silver Spring, Maryland, by Dr. Edward Taub, who
  was researching regeneration of severed nerves
  with a grant from the NIH.
• Alex Pacheco, college student, took a summer
  job caring for the monkeys and took photos of
  while Taub was on vacation
• Pacheco arranged for scientists and veterinarians
  to visit the laboratory secretly, and finally he
  reported the situation to the state police, who
  raided the lab under Maryland's Prevention of
  Cruelty to Animals law.

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• Taub claimed that Pacheco purposely did not
  clean the cages, but Taub was convicted of six
  counts of animal cruelty, later set aside by an
  appellate court
• NIH revoked Taubs funding
• Pacheco co-founded People for the Ethical
  Treatment of Animals (PETA) with Ingrid Newkirk
• The Supreme Court denied PETAs request to take
  custody of the monkeys, which remained under NIH
  supervision.
• Taub continued his research, and won three
  national prizes from national scientific
  societies, and was named Scholar of the Year at
  the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1997.

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1982- Silver Spring Monkeys
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1980s-Leprosy Research on Armadillos Results in
Improved Therapy
Dasypus novemcinctus, the nine-banded armadillo,
a nonhuman natural host of the leprosy bacillus,
Mycobacterium leprae.
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1985- IACUCs Mandated by Amended Animal Welfare
Act, and PHS Policy given Legal Foundation

• Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees
  (IACUCs) are given responsibility for review of
  animal care and use activities.
• The Health Research Extension Act passes to
  establish Public Health Service Policy on Humane
  Care and Treatment of Laboratory Animals.

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2004 PETA and Columbia University

• PETA files formal complaint with NY DAs Office
  against Columbia University officials
• Under state law, anyone who tortures, maims,
  mutilates, or kills any animal is guilty of a
  misdemeanor. While the law exempts properly
  conducted experiments, PETAs 10-page complaint
  alleges that primate experiments were not
  properly conducted and, therefore, are not exempt.

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PETAs View of the IACUC
Language in PETAs complaint
The IACUC oversees some of the most important
safeguards afforded to sentient animals used in
laboratory experiments, including the obligation
to ensure the propriety of procedures used and
scientific justification for the use of the
animals. When these safeguards are disregarded,
animals suffer horrendously and for absolutely no
reason, just as the baboons at Columbia
University have suffered, in clear violation of
the state cruelty-to-animals statute
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So, what does the public think about animal
research?
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Public Confidence in Care Given Research Animals

• 1948
• 75 of the public believed that medical schools
  treated laboratory animals as well as pet owners
  would do so.
• 50 felt that research rules and regulations were
  necessary.
• 1985
• 74 of the public agreed that the government
  should regulate "the use of anesthetics and other
  things to reduce or eliminate pain and
  suffering."
• 1989
• 33 of the public thought that animals used in
  medical and pharmaceutical research were treated
  humanely.
• S. Plous, Opinion Research on Animal
  Experimentation Areas of Support and Concern.
  (http//altweb.jhsph.edu/meetings/pain/plous.htm)

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1985 Foundation for Biomedical Research Poll

• 77 of public approved of performing biomedical
  research on animals.
• 45 approved of using monkeys.
• 27 approved of using purpose-bred dogs or cats.
• S. Plous, Opinion Research on Animal
  Experimentation Areas of Support and Concern.
  (http//altweb.jhsph.edu/meetings/pain/plous.htm)

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Summary- Public Support of Research

• A majority of Americans support the general use
  of animals in biomedical research, but support
  erodes as the invasiveness of procedures and
  pain/distress increase, and when primates and
  companion animals are involved.
• A majority believe that the government should
  regulate animal research and that research
  animals do not receive good care.
• Public support hinges on expectations that
  research and husbandry staff will treat animals
  with respect and dignity, and that institutions
  will follow the regulations.

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Sothe public is becoming more skeptical about
animal research and animal rights groups are
exerting unrelenting pressure why bother?
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Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology7 of 10 past
winners utilized animals
http//www.fbresearch.org/Education/nobels.htm
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IED blast and burn injuries
Spinal cord injury
Substance abuse
PTSD
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• - Our veterans need and deserve the benefits of
  animal research to alleviate suffering and
  improve the quality of their lives.- To deprive
  them of its benefits is a breach of trust.
• If VA loses the confidence of the public and
  Congress to perform ethical and compliant animal
  research, the veterans are cheated.