Dirty Dealings

Those who visit the website regularly will be aware that a year ago, SPEAK ran a story on one of the top animal research professors at Oxford University who was investigated by the police for cruelty to a monkey. Did he disappear without a trace? Of course not: he has continued to work, wears no badge of shame, and has not been prosecuted.

Despite the evidence of countless undercover investigations, which have produced documentary footage of the widespread travesty that is vivisection, those involved in animal abuse somehow still manage to sweep the truth under the carpet assuring the public that cruelty is rare, that research animals are well cared for, and that every effort is made to ensure that wherever possible, non-animal alternatives are used. The message is always: regrettably vivisection is a necessary evil for the benefit of humanity as a whole, and there is no other alternative, no other choice.

Media reports have shown footage that suggests all is sunny side up for the animals housed in Oxford’s laboratories, with monkeys housed in large cages, fed a diet rich in fruit and TV soaps to watch all day. This is a cheap PR stunt by the abusers, with free TV advertising of their product – an example of ‘product placement’ being employed to buy back the public’s favour, offering the assurance that cures are guaranteed.

Oxford University have strong links with various animal abuse establishments worldwide. Put bluntly, they have a lot of fingers in a lot of very dirty pies. With this outreach network, their scientists can go to countries with even less animal welfare laws than those operating within the UK (lets not forget, the UK protection laws are pathetic at best) where they can have free rein to further abuse animals in ways that would breach current UK guidelines. Cooperation with the US is particularly strong.

One such partnership is with The Scripps Research Institute, the largest private research institution in the United States. As part of their collaborative effort, Oxford and Scripps joined forces just last week to host an inaugural International Biology Conference in Florida for biotech scientists from around the world. Scripps Research and Oxford University currently offer joint Ph.D./D.Phil. study to international candidates, and indeed, the Scripps Institute organises a number of scholarships at Oxford University. A look at the University's website highlights the close links between the animal abusers at Scripps and those at Oxford; frequent visits and lecture tours are organised between the two institutions.

So what kind of establishment is it that Oxford fraternises with? In 2004, government inspectors from the US Dept of Agriculture reported having found serious problems at the Scripps Institute’s primate laboratory in La Jolla, California. Monkeys used in a study of the drug MDMA, or "Ecstasy," were fed less than 30% of the food they should have received. The inspectors noted that Scripps researchers ignored the advice of their in house veterinarian (an episode not dissimilar to one which occurred at Oxford) concerning proper nutrition for monkeys. One monkey died after receiving more than twice the approved dosage of Ecstasy. Inspectors also found that drugs used in the experiments had expired, and that living conditions for monkeys were inadequate. Scripps was forced to temporarily suspend the research in March 2004.

The president of The Scripps Research Institute, Richard A. Lerner, is a regular visitor to Oxford University. A quick look at Lerner’s past throws up some nasty experiments: in 1994, for example, he deprived cats of sleep, and as part of his study, cats were placed on a treadmill for 22 hours, then had fluid drawn from holes drilled in their skulls.

Another researcher now working for Scripps in Florida is Teresa Reyes. One of her past research projects attempted to determine how monkeys whose mothers experienced stress during pregnancy respond to infection or injury. The study involved close to one hundred rhesus monkeys. To study psychological stress, one group of pregnant monkeys were moved from their cages into a dark room, where they were “startled” by 115db horn blasts. This continued for 6 weeks. After the monkeys gave birth, forty-four baby monkeys were then injected with a substance that made them sick, and their recovery was studied.

Animal rights groups in Florida are currently fighting plans by the Scripps institute to build a research institute on a 2,000-acre former orange grove in west Palm Beach County. The property is part of a sensitive rural ecosystem close to the Everglades, on the edge of a federally protected natural area and is home to white-tailed deer, otters, coyotes, bobcat, alligators, endangered wood storks, cranes, herons and migratory birds.

The whole project is not dissimilar to that first proposed at Cambridge and now Oxford University. There are distinct parallels to be drawn with the UK. Where Lord Sainsbury – with the tacit agreement of PM Blair – is falling over himself to help pharmaceutical companies both with his political influence and public money, so too is Jeb Bush (brother of President George W Bush), helping private institutions to finance their projects using taxpayer’s money. Such is the power and influence of the pharmaceutical industry over democratically elected governments.

So what does this tell us about Oxford University that we didn’t already know? That they are in bed with a lot of unsavoury characters? That they are an institution responsible for the slaughter of thousands of animals a year? That they have worldwide links with institutions involved in the barbaric treatment of animals? That they have vivisectors who are out of control? Well, we already got the memo on all of those, but it never hurts to be reminded who and what we’re up against.