AR-News: NEAVS Response to Boston Sunday Globe Article on Tufts

[NEAVS]

NEAVS Response to the Boston Globe Article on Tufts' Dog Experiments

The Boston Globe's Sunday Magazine section (April 18, 2004) featured a 
front-page story about the bone-breaking experiment on six dogs at Tufts 
University School of Veterinary Medicine (TUSVM). The experiment ended in 
all six dogs being killed, one because of the complications of infection. 
The experiment was opposed by  students in Tufts' Animals and Public Policy 
program, as well as veterinary students who later withdrew their involvement 
because of the Policy students' decision to expose the research to the public.  
NEAVS supported the students throughout, including their efforts to work 
internally and, that failing, supported their courageous whistle-blowing. 

You can read the article "When Should Animals Die in the Name of Science" 
by visiting  http://www.boston.com/news/globe/magazine/ Author, Douglas Starr, 
did justice to raising the debate, even within the limitations of the article's length. While 
he left some questions unanswered, he raised the important questions. Boston is a hub 
of pro-research sentiment and activity. For the Globe to feature this story was a 
breakthrough. 

Although NEAVS applauds Tufts for its past innovative programs in veterinary education, 
none of us can sit back and allow animal research such as this painful and unnecessary 
bone-breaking experiment to become their status quo.  NEAVS will continue to dialogue 
with Tufts and to exert public pressure to enhance policy changes which will guarantee that 
this kind of research ends once and for all. 

NEAVS, the Tufts' students and the general public have drafted a list of recommendations 
that will be presented to Tufts. These recommendations encourage Tufts to1) become a 
model for appropriate "alternatives searches," which would have obviated the need for the 
bone-breaking experiment, as well as its lethal end-point; 2) adopt a stricter model 
conflict-of-interest policy, which would eliminate all doubt that a given protocol and its 
approval might favor the economic interest of researchers who hold patents on a device 
being tested; 3) establish a policy by which students' input is not only accepted but encouraged
 and USED to expose remnants of old thinking and change practices that have justified the e
xperimental use of animals for education and research; and 4) ask that instead of fostering 
Tufts' students' involvement in animal research --as many of the new programs the Dean 
recently announced will do--that the university foster its students' skills and interest in 
developing 
and using alternatives to animal research.  

NEAVS met recently with a representative of Tufts University and the students will be meeting
with university officials this week. Dialogue around these crucial issues needs to be opened for 
the sake of the animals, future students and Tufts reputation as a leader in ethical standards-
a reputation NEAVS wants Tufts to be worthy of.  

For more information on the Tufts' dog campaign, please visit www.neavs.org



_______________________________
New England Anti-Vivisection Society
333 Washington Street Suite 850
Boston, MA 02108
info at neavs.org
617-523-6020 

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