AR-News: U continues to charge a high price for information concerning animal testing

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From: primfocus at waste.org

The Daily Utah Chronicle - News
Issue: 3/24/04

U continues to charge a high price for information concerning animal testing
By Cara Wieser

Another student has joined the fight.

Senior Lidya Hardy sent a letter to the U requesting information about any
and all dogs and cats housed at the Animal Resource Center or other
U-supported facilities, and the request was met with the same response the U
has given the past two months-a big bill.

Hardy is the sister of Daily Utah Chronicle opinion columnist Jason Hardy.

Lidya Hardy shares the same concern that students Jeremy Beckham and Kim
Bowman have for animals involved in research at the U-the belief that
confining and experimenting on the animals is inhumane.

Even though Beckham and Bowman focus their interest more on obtaining
information about the primates at the U, their fight has been met with the
same resistance Hardy's has-hundreds of dollars in proposed charges.

In order to obtain any records of the animals, all three students must first
pay copying and legal fees.

After Hardy requested "a complete consensus" of all dogs and cats "acquired
by the University of Utah during the years of 1998-2004" and of all dogs and
cats currently in the U's possession, U Attorney Phyllis Vetter sent Hardy a
bill for $737.17 for "search and retrieval," "compilation" and "technical
review."

According to Vetter, Hardy's bill is large because the documents are "not
something we have."

Vetter said the documents would have to be compiled, and after that, a
scientific or legal professional must review the documents to "make sure the
pages that she requested are put together properly."

The charges for Beckham and Bowman were closer to $200. The proposed bill
charged them for technical review, legal review and copy fees. According to
Vetter, technical review covers "the technical scientific aspect" while the
legal review "usually involves a lawyer."

All three students requested the information under the Government Records
Access and Management Act, Utah's open records act.

Vetter said the fees the U proposed are covered under the same act, which
"gives instructions for what you charge for and how you do it."

"The statute is very carefully crafted to allow for recovery for only the
actual cost at the hourly rate of the lowest hourly rate," Vetter said.

The three students ultimately hope to end animal experimentation at the U.

"The lifetime of being in a cage...is representative of one type of inhumane
treatment. Dogs especially are known for their emotional dependence on
humans. They were essentially bred for human companionship, Hardy said. "To
deprive them of this affects them mentally analogous to starvation, which
deprives them physically," Hardy said.

cwieser at chronicle.utah.edu


the wild, cruel beast is not behind the bars of the cage. he is in front of it - axel munthe

"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated citizens can change the world. 
Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."      Margaret Mead
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