PETA is pulling again the curtain on taxpayer-funded animal experiments at George Mason College (GMU) to disclose violations.
Official Animal Welfare Issues at GMU
GMU, which incorporates the Krasnow Institute for Superior Examine, has used an untold variety of animals—together with elephant shrews, mice, and rats—in experiments.
Not like most publicly funded animal testing services in Virginia, GMU doesn’t have an announcement posted on its web site relating to a dedication to the ideas of the “3Rs”: Substitute of animal-based fashions with modern expertise, Discount within the variety of animals utilized in experiments, and Refinement of scientific strategies to attenuate ache and struggling.
Oversight businesses accountable for guaranteeing compliance with federal animal welfare requirements have documented the next points at GMU.
Might 10, 2023, self-reported Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) Workplace of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) report (E)
- Throughout a transcardial perfusion—by which an animal’s circulatory system is flushed with saline or a fixing agent by way of a needle inserted into the center whereas the animal is deeply anesthetized however nonetheless alive—a mouse “exhibited indicators of waking up,” then was “instantly re-anesthetized with isoflurane previous to persevering with the perfusion and subsequent euthanasia procedures.” It was additionally decided that the process was carried out in an space “not authorized for animal use for this protocol.”
April 27, 2023, self-reported NIH OLAW report (F)
- Expired pain-relieving medication and antibiotics had been administered to rats throughout 13 survival surgical procedures and recoveries over the course of 4 months. The medication had expired two years earlier than the time interval lined by the violation. Though the attending veterinarian “didn’t imagine the animals to be in ache or misery that required additional veterinary motion,” the college famous that “the severity by which these incidents of improper oversight of care and use to our most weak animals who endure survival surgical procedure procedures is a critical deviation from Mason insurance policies and Assurance” in addition to Well being Service Coverage on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (PHS Coverage) and the Information for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
February 22, 2023, U.S. Division of Agriculture (USDA) Animal Plant and Well being Inspection Service (APHIS) Inspection Report: One violation
- A accountable grownup wasn’t current to accompany APHIS officers in the course of the inspection course of on the Krasnow Institute.
February 22, 2023, USDA APHIS Inspection Report: One violation
- A accountable grownup wasn’t current to accompany APHIS officers in the course of the inspection course of at GMU.
July 7, 2022, self-reported NIH OLAW report (D)
- A “technician was working towards tail vein injections on a mouse beneath chemical restraint and used saline for the injection as an alternative of a distinction agent authorized to make use of” within the relevant Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee protocol. Though the mouse died earlier than recovering from anesthesia, the college’s institutional official acknowledged that the animal’s demise “was decided to be an unlucky occasion and never straight brought on by the noncompliance.”
Examples of Experiments Involving Animals at GMU
The next experiments had been lately performed at GMU, and plenty of of them had been publicly funded:
Optimization of tissue sampling for Borrelia burgdorferi in white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus)
A complete of 90 wild white-footed mice had been lured into baited traps and killed by carbon dioxide asphyxiation or “vertebral dislocation upon triggering the lure mechanism” in order that their tissues could possibly be analyzed.
Wheel-running habits is negatively impacted by zinc administration in a novel twin transgenic mouse mannequin of AD
Mice who had been injected with human gene mutations in order that they’d develop Alzheimer’s illness had been subjected to “a battery of behavioral assessments” earlier than getting used within the experiment. These assessments included mazes meant to trigger nervousness and the pressured swim check, by which an animal is confined to an inescapable container of water to measure how lengthy she or he fights to maintain their face above water. Through the experiment, mice got zinc-supplemented ingesting water and “examined for each day wheel operating exercise.”
Immune-modulating exercise of hydrogel microparticles contributes to the host protection in a murine mannequin of cutaneous anthrax
Experimenters injected the hind footpads of feminine mice with anthrax-causing micro organism and likewise injected a few of them with engineered microparticles designed to assist clear the an infection. Irritation of their footpads was then noticed for 2 weeks or till they died from the an infection, whichever got here first.
Spatial studying is impaired in male pubertal rats following neonatal each day however not randomly spaced maternal deprivation
Experimenters subjected child male Lengthy-Evans (aka “hooded”) rats to maternal separation by isolating them for 3 hours each day for 10 consecutive days beginning after they had been 1 or 10 days previous. The rats then underwent surgical procedure by which their skulls had been opened and a drug-delivery tube was completely implanted of their brains. At 40 days previous, the rats had been positioned a number of occasions right into a water maze, the place they had been pressured to swim in a pool of water combined with white paint till they discovered a hidden platform, after which they had been killed. Virginia Tech (VT) was additionally concerned on this experiment. (To study extra about animals utilized in experiments at VT, click on right here.)
Media Studies Regarding Animal Testing at GMU
Public Funding for Experiments on Animals at GMU
In 2022, the Commonwealth of Virginia and its localities gave public universities greater than $146 million for animal and non-animal analysis. At the moment, no info is offered indicating how a lot cash is spent on animal experimentation in Virginia. The desk beneath reveals the full annual analysis funds obtained by GMU for the previous 9 years, together with public funding.
GMU spent $5,607 on Affiliation for Evaluation and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care accreditation charges in 2023.
| 12 months | State/Native Govt. | Federal Govt. | All Sources |
| 2022 | $5,816,000 | $119,406,000 | $230,068,000 |
| 2021 | $3,387,000 | $103,712,000 | $214,207,000 |
| 2020 | $3,750,000 | $104,070,000 | $221,006,000 |
| 2019 | $3,370,000 | $96,307,000 | $186,267,000 |
| 2018 | $3,156,000 | $69,481,000 | $149,138,000 |
| 2017 | $3,289,000 | $57,345,000 | $112,404,000 |
| 2016 | $3,041,000 | $58,864,000 | $108,899,000 |
| 2015 | $1,711,000 | $63,600,000 | $106,410,000 |
| 2014 | $1,945,000 | $61,877,000 | $98,680,000 |
Supply: Increased Training Analysis and Growth Survey, Desk 5 for FY 2021–2016, Desk 82 for FY 2015, and Desk 83 for FY 2014