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Monday, April 15, 1991 / University Daily Kansan
Animal research Animal Care Unit, regulations protect subjects in experiments
By Sarah Davis
Kansan staff writer
A small white sign on the door leading into the Animal Care Unit warns all who enter.
"Please do not: annoy, torment,
pester, plague, molest, worry,
badger, harry, harass, heeke, persecute, irk, bullyrag, vex, disquiz, grate, beset, bother, tease, tennile, tantalize or ruffle the animals."
Although the sign is meant as a joke, its meaning is no laughing matter.
"The animals are to be treated with every consideration and possible kindness," said Steve Kozak, a husband at the Animal Care Unit.
The care unit is home to about 4,500 animals, which are housed on three floors in Malot Hall and throughout Haworth Hall.
Frogs, turtles, rats, rabbits, cats, dogs and goats are all used for research at the University of Kansas.
Animal research has always been controversial. Researchers insist that animal testing is necessary to advance science and improve human health. Animal rights activists argue that animals should not be treated like humans, even a rat can sense pain — and that no animals should be used for experiments.
Federal regulation
Although the controversy surrounding animal research continues in other parts of the country, it does not seem to be as strong in Lawrence. The reason for this may be the fact that research on campus is regulated.
Korak said the care unit had never had any problems with animal-rights activists breaking in to free the animals or even any complaints. He said it met the standards of the American Association for the Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care agencies that evaluated an agency
"I don't think the public realizes just how regulated it is," he said of the care unit. "It's got to be by the book here. Our primary function is animal care. We're the watchdogs to animal research."
Research at the care unit ranges from biomedical to behavioral studies. One type of research involves a patient being placed in a room would be absorbed into a person's
skin if a patch were worn.
The care unit provides several services for the University:
services for the University:
■ It provides care to any animals that are used on campus, whether for research, exhibits or teaching. That care involves food, water, medication, sanitation and breeding.
It supports about 55 investigators from 12 different departments. Training and assistance is given in learning how to work with animals, and training of animals at RU is monitored, and guidance is given to researchers.
The Animal Care Unit regulates carefully what research may be conducted on campus through an evaluating committee, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. KU is required by federal law to have a such committee.
The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee is responsible for reviewing and evaluating any research done on campus. Before an investigator may begin any type of research or even before bringing an animal into a classroom, the must approve it.
Paul Kitos, acting chairperson of the committee, said it scrutinized each research proposal that was submitted to determine if benefits from the team were greater than from the team and to make sure animals received no excessive pain.
"We bend over backward to prevent people from doing anything that would unnecessarily cause distress or harm." And this idea is that nothing frivolous is done.
To prevent that, the care unit must guidelines that researchers must abide by. A research request can be modified if it is modified to follow the guidelines.
Seven full-time animal technicians work in the care unit, and there are also two part time technicians. Six of the animal caretakers are certified through the American Association of Laboratory Animal Science, an organization that promotes knowledge edge in veterinary animal science. Several community service workers and two student employees also work at the care unit.
James Bresnahan, director of the care unit and one of its three federally required veterinarians, said the agency strictly regulated by several agencies.
The Department of Agriculture visits the care unit announced three times a year to check whether guidelines are being followed. It also enforces the Animal Welfare Act, which requires that all researchers working with animals, excluding common mice and rats, have training specific to the animals they work with.
The care unit also is regulated by the Health Research Extension Act, which implements health policy regulations and which regulates all animal research.
Community input
The care unit oversees campus animal research in another way as well. Its Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee has a well-rounded group of members to represent all sides of animal issues. It is made up of faculty, graduate students, administrators, members of the care unit staff, a representative from the office of research, graduate studies and public service, and two community members.
One of these community members is Sister Pat Lynch, an outreach minister at St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center. She said she thought the University was a beneficial University resource in monitoring animal research.
If research is done for a cause that will improve life, especially for humans, then I’m in favor of it," she said. "I think I bring to the committee the common viewpoint of the health and a concern for life in all respects."
Stephanie Moody, Wichita state and member of Environs, said she thought animal testing neglected the concern for an animal's life.
"The animals are not choosing to be tested on," she said. "My own personal view is that we view our own human lives over an animal life. I think all lives should be valued equally."
Moody said researchers did not have respect for animals.
student and member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said he was unfamiliar with the research going on at KU. He said that animals were considered necessary, that which is done humanely and for a purpose was acceptable.
"They don't see the animals as animals," she said. "They just see it as another part of an experiment. I don't think they've thought it out completely. It just seems really lopsided."
"I can understand looking for a cure for AIDS or Alzheimer's disease
— those are commendable causes," he said. "But these really nasty tests some places have been doing, I have a problem with."
Aside from research being well regulated, animals at the care unit are also well cared for.
Scott Bailey, Lawrence graduate
Inside the care unit, rats are housed in plastic boxes with water bottles and feeding trays attached. Rabbit sits individually in steel cages. The 16 cats, many affectionately named, such as Black Burt and Jake, are housed in large rooms. The 21 beagles and four goats also have the run of their own rooms.
Animal rooms are kept clean. Cages, floors and rooms are cleaned twice a week. Each room has an individual temperature control because rats like it warm and rabbits like it cool.
The caring side
The care unit resembles a hospital, complete with examining rooms, an X-ray machine, operating room and necropsy room.
The necropsy room is used to euthanize animals, either by carbon dioxide or lethal injection. Animals are put to sleep for several reasons; if they become ill or suffer, have a contagious disease (e.g., rabies), they may be tested for analysis or the experiment is terminated and the animal is no longer needed.
Jennifer Bohannon, Ponca City, Okla., sophomore, said that she was torn between both sides of the issue but that she felt some animal research was necessary if it was justified.
"I think we should value and respect an animal's life as much as a human's," said Bohannon, who works at the Lawrence Humane Society. "I think there's a lot of unnecessary research being done, but as far as medical research, if it's going to benefit us and there no other means to obtain it, then I can understand."
James Orr, professor of physiology
1. An investigator must fill out an animal use form, specifying one of the seven types of research listed. They range from Class A, involving experiments that cause only minimal or no pain or discomfort such as injections or blood sampling, up to Class G, which uses unanesthetized animals and causes acute pain such as the infliction of severe burns or trauma. There is only one Class G experiment at KU; it involves socially isolating rats.
2. Researchers must explain the significance and extent of their research, and they also are asked if an alternative to animal use is available.
3. Researchers are given training in the use of the animal, such as humane treatment, proper care and proper use of anesthetics. This involves following the U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines which are given in booklet form to the researcher.
"The only way we can get answers to the questions we're asking experimentally is to use animals." Orr said. "Medical care is tied to research, which in turn is tied to
and cell biology, is doing research on goats. He is looking at what chemicals lead to changes in breathing, and he said his research, as well as others', was necessary to advance scientific knowledge.
Melissa Unterberg/KANSAN
animals. It involves animals all the way from beginning to end."
Sally Frost-Mason, associate dean of liberal arts and sciences, does research on frogs and axolotls, a type of salamander. She studies the animals before they develop a nervous system so they do not sense anything. She thinks this is an important part of animal research.
"The one thing that researchers have to keep in mind is that animals obviously feel things and have sensations," she said. "You want to do it so you cause them no pain or the least amount possible."
Unit seeks knowledge
The search for information is what the Animal Care Unit is concerned about. Bresnahan said.
"We're to use animals to obtain information, not to torture animals," he said. "We want a drug tested on animals before on people."
Shawn Nasseri, Lawrence senior is president of the KU Bioethics club which discusses ethical issues in the modern biological society. Member have discussed the importance o animal research vs. animal rights.
"Would you prefer a surgeon learn: a new procedure on your son or your dog?" asked Nasseri, who has done testing on animals. "It's almost impossible to do it without using it. It's effectively the only answer."
Carol Henderson, vice president of the Lawrence Humane Society, said that not only did animal research show that dogs are better cared for the animals needed to be respected.
"Every effort should be taken that animals are not suffering from excess pain and to make sure that animals are well cared of to have as normal a life as they can," she said. "It's always involuntary to get into an animal's paws, but our great contribution animals have made to the medical field."
Henderson said that the Humane Society was prohibited by law from releasing its animals for research but that she hoped animal research, when it did take place, was done as humanely as possible.
"The animals' future welfare is in the hands of the people, and we have to be wise in the way we use them," Henderson said.
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