Federal report - A center spokesman says the statistics
were misinterpreted
Monday, February 26, 2007
ANDY DWORKIN
An animal rights activist says federal reports show "a high death
rate" and "clear indications of severe stress" among monkeys at the
Oregon National Primate Research Center.
But a spokesman for the Oregon center said the activist's criticism
misinterprets many of the statistics, which were drawn from public
reports filed by the eight U.S. national primate research centers. And
the activist, Michael Budkie, said on Friday that his data show the
Oregon center is fifth of eight centers in death rate -- about the
middle of the pack.
Budkie, who runs Stop Animal Experimentation Now out of his Ohio
home, said death rates ranged from 5.1 percent at California's center to
22.4 percent at Louisiana's. Oregon's was 12.4 percent. That includes
animals that died of natural causes and those killed in experiments. The
rates can vary depending on the kind of experiments being done and the
kind of monkeys kept at each center. He said the Oregon center logged
463 primate deaths in 2005.
Budkie noted that monkeys at the Oregon center, like those in other
centers, sometimes injure themselves or other monkeys and display
unusual behaviors.
About 4,000 monkeys now live at the Hillsboro center, which is run by
Oregon Health & Science University. Center spokesman Jim Newman said
Budkie's report contains "both major and minor errors" and often
misinterprets the meaning of statistics in the "annual progress report"
the center filed with the National Institutes of Health.
For instance, Budkie's letter mentions "2284 (potentially 65% of
center animals) cases of wound management" and "1400 (potentially 40% of
center animals) incidents of bandaging." But the statistics refer to
individual visits by veterinarians, which could be to the same animal
for the same incident. "If you have an animal that gets a cut, and you
change its bandage every day for two weeks," that would count as 14
bandagings, Newman said. The statistics are reported that way to track
how much work center employees do, since the NIH funds the center.
Newman said the 463 deaths included 204 animals killed for
experiments, 105 that died of illness or natural causes, 78 killed for
humane reasons (such as severe illness) and 66 fetal monkeys that were
miscarried. Newman said he thinks those numbers are in line with
previous years, though he did not have exact statistics on hand.
Budkie said he is worried generally about the level of death and
injuries across the U.S. primate centers, and would like to see all the
rates drop. His group's ultimate goal is to end all animal testing.
Budkie said he sent a letter asking for a tour of the Oregon center,
but doubts he'll get an offer: "I'm not holding my breath." The center
does, however, regularly arrange tours for people interested in finding
out more, unless someone is "a known security risk," Newman said. The
center just got Budkie's tour request on Friday and hadn't decided how
to respond, he said.
