UCSF Ignores Public Concerns While Using Public Money - from First, Do No Harm, August 2006, Part Four

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Dear Advocates for Animals: Please find article (below) from "First, Do No Harm" (August 2006, Part Four); I hope you find it informative. _____ UCSF Ignores Public Concerns While Using Public Money by Bob O'Brien Why must we, taxpaying citizens, go to the lengths of retaining lawyers and petitioning legislators to obtain information generated by our tax dollars? This is a question that never need be asked in a functional democracy, because information would be readily available upon request. Regrettably, that is not the case in our society today. Over the past few years advocates for animals have been requesting and receiving

research protocols from UCSF for a variety of projects using animals. When animal advocates reviewed some of the protocols, they found numerous faults and thus had many concerns. However, when animal advocates filed complaints with UCSF's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) regarding several projects, communications broke down as university officials failed to respond to the advocates' specific questions and concerns. To be more specific, over the past three years the grassroots group Vigil for Animals has written four letters detailing questions and concerns to UCSF's IACUC - a function of which is to "review, and if warranted, investigate concerns involving the care and use of animals at the research facility resulting from public complaints," according to the Animal Welfare Act. To this date (8/23/06), Vigil for Animals has not received a single response from UCSF's IACUC. However, two

university administrators (who were not part of the IACUC) did send two glossed-over responses that did not address any of the group's specific concerns. Consequently many of their questions were resubmitted to UCSF in February of this year, thanks to the help of the office of State Senator Carole Migden. Just this week word came from Senator Migden's office that UCSF finally sent a response; I understand a copy of it is in the mail. My attempts to get information on UCSF's use of animals have been met with further university stonewalling. Frustrated with waiting for the university's responses to five information requests that I had made under the California Public Records Act, I retained a lawyer, who filed a lawsuit in the California Superior Court in October 2005 to force UCSF to give me the information. Subsequently, UCSF responded to my requests, yet the information they sent was incomplete as it was

missing illegally redacted material and the documented disposition of dozens of German shepherd dogs used in a cardiology research project. The information remains incomplete to this date, while my lawyer and UCSF's attorneys attempt to settle the matter out of court. Citizens who work diligently in obtaining and reviewing information on projects funded by their taxes at a local university should have their questions answered in a timely and accurate manner. UCSF has a responsibility, both legally and ethically, to the taxpaying public. UCSF officials need to take that responsibility seriously - or the university's credibility, as well as the school's worthiness of our tax dollars, will diminish accordingly. _________ For a hard copy of "First, Do No Harm" (August 2006), please send a stamped self-addressed envelope to me (Bob O'Brien)

at 311 - 11th Avenue, #15, San Francisco, CA 94118. BOB O'BRIEN

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