Research Animals Protected At DePauw University
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DePauw University goes to great lengths to determine whether animals are absolutely needed for research and to ensure that lab animals are treated well. Consequently, DePauw hasn’t had problems with protests of research with animals. This is in sharp contrast to the experience of many universities. Earlier this year, a fire bomb damaged the home of a professor involved in animal research at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA).
"People have to be aware that we are very careful in minimizing pain and risk to the animals," according to professor Kevin Kinney. "First and foremost, it's the right thing to do."
Kinney is one of five members of the DePauw University Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, a body that "provides oversight for the animal care and use program at DePauw, which encompasses any use of vertebrate animals," according to the university website. The committee membership is set according to federal guidelines, and federal regulations require that all use of vertebrate animals be approved by such a committee.
The committee’s top priority is clear details of the proposal, including an explanation of why vertebrate animals must be used rather than an alternative model - such as a culture or computer model - Kinney says. Two other requirements are justification for the number of animals requested, and evidence that proposed experiments don’t duplicate previous research.
Another member of the committee, philosophy professor Marthe Chandler, says anyone planning a project that would require animal research submits an animal use protocol form to the committee. She is passionate about being sure animal research is done only when necessary.
"We make sure what's happening to the animals is happening for a damn good reason," Chandler says.
Kinney adds that training for those working with animals and a study design that minimizes the animals’ stress is also required, not only because “it's the right thing to do,†but also because the results of an experiment may be invalid when the animals are stressed.
Besides the university’s general training for those working with animals, the professor who submits a proposal is responsible for the humane treatment of lab animals at DePauw, and being sure that everyone involved be fully trained and follow protocols for animal care. Kinney, who teaches animal physiology, immunology and organismal biology, uses animals in some classes. If students are uncomfortable with animal work, he tries to find an alternative.
Organismal biology is a broad study of the development of and relationships among all kinds of organisms, and how they interact with their environments, studying everything from algae to mammals.
Chandler not only studies all proposals carefully, but also visits DePauw’s research labs. “I've been very impressed with the kindness with which they treat animals," she says.