Record Amount of Animal Testing Data Released

by Sherry Morse

The largest amount of information about experimentation in laboratories in the United Kingdom involving animals that has ever been made public was recently released after a judge overturned an injunction against publication of the material.

The 1,274 pages provide detailed accounts of attempts made from 1994 to 2000 by Huntingdon Life Sciences, the largest laboratory research firm in Europe, to perfect methods of creating animals from which organs can be safely transplanted into human beings.

Among the more surprising revelations about the unsuccessful work, which involved genetic engineering and transplanting organs from one animal into another, are that:

• a primate died because a swab was accidentally left inside him during surgery
  
• an animal died because he was accidentally given a quadruple overdose
  
• an attempt was made by Home Office officials to have the suffering involved in kidney transplant tests classified as "moderate" rather than "severe" in order to make obtaining permission for the experiments easier
  
• Home Office officials took no action after learning that 34 baboons had been confined in crates for approximately 34 hours - 10 more than legally allowed - while being shipped from Africa

"The documents reveal at least 520 errors (or) omissions in the...research," said one scientist who reviewed the material.

"These documents are a damning indictment of the state of transplantation research...both from an ethical and scientific standpoint," Campaign for Responsible Transplantation Director Alix Fano stated.

"This is a tragic scandal of historic proportions," said Uncaged Campaigns Director Dan Lyons, who led the effort to get the injunction overturned.

"Ultimately, the appalling failure of government in its most fundamental duty - to enforce the law - is unmasked."

© 2003 Animal News Center, Inc.