Watchdog group speaks out about test involving beagles, ticks at University of Missouri
Animal rights groups have occasionally had strong criticism of animal research at the University of Missouri.
Now comes a group that rejects the label, White Coat Waste Project.
"We are not an animal rights group," said Justin Goodman, senior vice president for advocacy and public policy for the organization. "We are a nonpartisan government watchdog group."
The organization opposes the use of federal tax dollars on animal experiments, he said.
The group outlined its objections in a Dec. 6 letter to Deborah Kearse, director of the division of program integrity at the National Institutes of Health.
The letter alleges MU violated a federal spending transparency law, something MU spokesman Christian Basi said is just inaccurate.
MU reveals the sources and amounts of research grants in all publications, Basi said.
The university failed to list $6.7 million in NIH funding in a specific publication, Goodman said.
The document, provided by Basi, lists $6.9 million in grant funding from NIH.
The experiments involve strapping capsules containing ticks to the bare skin of beagle puppies, with the organization referring to them as painful experiments.
The dogs experience some skin irritation, Basi said.
"The ticks are administered in a controlled way and the animals are checked regularly for any distress," Basi said.
The experiments are to determine the effectiveness of potential vaccines for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Basi said.
There were 40 dogs in the study, but none currently, he said.
"Eighteen of the 40 are being adopted," Basi said.
The remaining 22 developed illnesses during the experiment and were euthanized, he said.
"We had fewer signs and symptoms of the illness than was expected," he said.
A committee must approve and oversee every experiment, he said.
"We go above and beyond federal requirements for animal studies," he said.
The committee includes people from scientific backgrounds and two community members to provide a non-scientific perspective, he said.
Sometimes it denies requests for animal research, Basi said.
A veterinarian overseeing the animals doesn't report to the scientists doing the experiments, he said.
Anthony Belotti, president and founder of White Coat Waste Project, called the activity cruel and wasteful in its news release.
“As a Missouri resident and taxpayer, I’m horrified that Mizzou is torturing puppies with my tax dollars in cruel and outdated maximum pain experiments," Belotti said. "A growing majority of taxpayers oppose wasteful government-funded dog testing, and they’ll be shocked to learn that Mizzou white coats are buying hundreds of beagle puppies, strapping capsules full of ticks to their bare skin, and withholding pain relief from the suffering dogs in barbaric tests bankrolled with our hard-earned money via the National Institutes of Health."
It's research that benefits humans and animals in the long term, Basi said.
"We definitely appreciate the advocates out there," Basi said. "This research is helpful to humans and animals."
The researcher use the minimum number of animals for each experiment, he said.
Because both humans and animals get Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, a vaccine could lead to a better quality of life for both species, he said.
"Every scientist knows the sacrifices and recognizes the heroism of the animals involved in the studies," Basi said.
Roger McKinney is the Tribune's education reporter. You can reach him at rmckinney@columbiatribune.com or 573-815-1719. He's on X at @rmckinney9.
This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: White Coat Waste Project objects to MU animal research's funding
