Some encouraging, mixed with mostly sad , news about animals at UCSF....Vigil Gathering on June 18

June 14, 2006

Dear Advocates for Animals, Recently, while reviewing meeting minutes from UCSF's Institutional Animal Care & Use Committee (IACUC), I was surprised to find that one of its members actually voted against the proposed use of over 500 dogs (over a three-year period) in the cardiology research project we have been protesting for the past several years. For your information, the meeting minutes for Feb. 3, 2004, read: "One member objected to the study [Remodeling in Atrial Fibrillation] based on the number of requested dogs and the estimated rate of model failure and mortality." Who the person was who objected, I do not know, since UCSF does not reveal the

identities of IACUC members for the most part. The last request I made for a list of this rather secret committee resulted in UCSF sending me a list with 13 names redacted (i.e., names not given, just credentials) out of 16 members. Unfortunately, the final vote to approve the project was 14 for approval to 1 against. Still it is somewhat heartening to know that someone on that committee has some sense. By the way, the project was active at least through the early part of this year. Last news I had showed that 61 dogs had been acquired for use in the project, with 40 dead (as of 1/27/06). By the way, I have recently skimmed over the most recent protocols I received in mid-December last year regarding monkeys used in research projects at UCSF. Briefly, the protocols showed the planned (ab)use of 78 monkeys under

restraint and restriction of food or fluids, according to 7 UCSF research protocols. And UCSF researchers propose to (ab)use another 269 monkeys, according to protocols for 9 other projects (not employing restraint). I hope to summarize these projects in another alert in the near future, so please stay tuned. If you want to help better expose - and perhaps someday stop - such abuse of our fellow creatures on the planet, please let me know so I may keep you informed about upcoming actions. Bob O'Brien