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Columbia University's History Is Nothing to Write Home About-in Fact, It's Shameful
In 1986, the NIH shut down all animal experimentation at Columbia for "serious deficiencies which constitute material failure to comply with the standards of the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals." The deficiencies included failure to provide proper veterinary care, major surgeries conducted in dirty areas, and dogs housed in "entirely inadequate" conditions.
In 1993, experiments on animals were suspended for reasons having to do with failure on the part of the vivisectors to properly carry out protocols. In one of the projects, the "principal investigator" (industryspeak for the person who gets the grant for performing animal experiments) did not have an approved protocol for a procedure involving transplanting patches of retinal cells into the subretinal space of a rabbit's eye. Records read, "The animal was reported to Veterinary Services shortly after the operation since it was obviously in discomfort with an inflamed conjunctiva and a swollen globe and was photophobic [unable to tolerate light]. When the veterinarian searched for post-operative analgesia orders, he discovered that there was no protocol for the procedure. Two other animals were also operated upon. All these animals have been euthanized."
In 1994, a heating malfunction killed dozens of mice. No monitoring system was in place.
In 1995, two baboons shipped from the University of Illinois, Chicago, to Columbia escaped upon arrival. The baboons were sedated by the New York Emergency Medical Service and returned to Columbia-one of them dead.
In 1996, more than 100 mice died because of a heating malfunction. Again, no monitoring or alarm system was in place. The animals were killed when a steam valve malfunctioned, causing what must have been horribly painful deaths.
In 1997, an anonymous call reported that four cages of rats had been found that contained animals who, according to the protocol, were to have had their eyes removed immediately after being gassed with CO2 but instead had been left in a laboratory for 4 1/2 weeks, possibly unattended. The cages were filled with feces, and there was a strong ammonia odor in the room. The vivisector ("principal investigator") had to take a course on animal use and relinquish the surviving rats.
In 2000, a vivisector decided that he was in too much of a hurry to bother getting a protocol approved for his experiment to inject pregnant rats with a seizure-causing compound. After he injected the rats, he left for a week-long conference, leaving a student in charge. When he was reported, he told the investigating committee that he believed getting a protocol approved "would cause [a] delay that [he] could not afford." Yet he could afford to leave the experiment to attend a conference. His animal-use privileges were restored just as soon as he provided written assurance to the committee that he would always get protocols approved.
In 2002, a post-doctoral student used rats without an approved protocol. He performed intracerebral injections and amputations on the animals. Two adult rats were missing all or part of a limb, and he had amputated baby rats' limbs to distinguish the animals from each other. The animals were euthanized after being found in this condition, but the suspension on experimentation in that laboratory was lifted within hours after the principal investigator assured the IACUC that no other unauthorized work was being conducted.
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