Mr. Hatch, Mr. Wright, Mr. Stanford, (new additions: Mr. Deadwyler,
Ms. Porrino,)
Since one issue of our discussion was somewhat muddled, that being
water access for non-human primates, I have attached the most recently
available USDA form (2004) which listed several projects that involved
substantial periods of limited access to water. One of these projects is
titled: " Diencephalic Mechanisms of Visuomotor Integration."
According to the National Institutes of Health CRISP database, this
is the title of Mr. Stanford's Grant. So, unless his procedures have
changed substantially, I will assume that it still involves extended
periods of limited/no access to water/liquids.
In the USDA report listed above, Diencephalic Mechanisms of
Visuomotor Integration is listed in a section, along with 2 other
projects that discuss "exceptions to the requirements for watering
nonhuman primates" and the protocol listing for this project states
"Access to water is regulated such that the first fluid intake for the
day will occur during a training or experimental session. This
information also says that the primates will be used in experiments from
Monday - Friday. It appears from this information that in at least some
instances, if not the majority of instances, these primates receive
water/fluids only during the actual experimental paradigm.
Clearly, Wake Forest has recognized in the past that these primates,
as well as others, were deprived of water for extended periods.
First, as the credentialed experts whose statements I have already
provided state, these projects should more correctly be listed in column
E of form 7023. Since, as is obvious from the attached form, these
documents already list these experiments as something not meeting the
USDA standards for primate watering, our first request is that you
simply report these projects more accurately, and that these projects be
listed as causing unrelieved pain/distress, this should not be a major
change.
Second, I have requested the arrangement of a meeting to discuss the
elimination of such procedures as would obviously cause unrelieved
pain/distress through water deprivation, restraint chair use, and the
attachment of devices to the skulls of non-human primates. I would
appreciate if we can address these things fully, since your facility has
documented them in the past.
So that we may have a more fully substantive discussion of these
issues, I have also requested (via FOIA to the USDA) copies of all
correspondence between the USDA/APHIS/AC and Wake Forest University for
the last two years. This information will provide a much fuller picture
of the projects currently underway at Wake Forest.
One reason that I have for requesting the tour of your facilities is
to look into the current situation of the vervet colony that was
transferred from the care of Lynn Fairbanks and the UCLA/VA facilities
in Los Angeles to Wake Forest. The process of transporting 450 vervets
cross country was, I am sure, difficult and somewhat stressful for the
primates, especially since the NIH grant which discusses their shipment
is titled: "QTL Mapping of Impulsivity-related Traits Before and After a
Stressful Life Change." Since this is acknowledged by their former
caretaker, Dr. Fairbanks, as stressful, and since I somehow doubt that
these 450 vervets were tranquilized for the entirety of their journey, I
was wondering if they would be listed in Column E on the relevant form
7023 for Wake Forest or for the facility from which they originated?
Also, I am somewhat concerned about the experimentation funded
through Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grants
DAAD19-02-1-0060 (Army Research Office) (S.A.D., L.P.) and BAA
04-12-F9034, National Institutes of Health Grants DA00119 and DA06634 (S.A.D.,
L.P.), DA09085 (L.P.), and NS14610 and MH64109 (J.M.S.).
According to the most recent publication of this research (The
Journal of Neuroscience, December 26, 2007, 27(52):14239-14247 Systemic
and Nasal Delivery of Orexin-A (Hypocretin-1) Reduces the Effects of
Sleep Deprivation on Cognitive Performance in Nonhuman Primates) the
primates experience extended periods of sleep deprivation, the text of
this article states:
"Eight adult male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) weighing (8.0–11.0
kg) were used in this study. They were individually housed in stainless
steel cages in temperature and humidity controlled colony rooms with
lighting maintained on a 6:00 A.M/6:00 P.M. on/off schedule and fed a
diet of monkey chow supplemented by fresh fruit to maintain daily
monitored body weight. Fluid intake was restricted in time and amount
such that a prescribed volume of an animal's normal daily fluid intake
(80 ml/kg) was received either during the behavioral testing session, or
within 2 h of being returned to the home cage.
Behavioral testing. Each monkey was exposed to six different
testing conditions [Normal Vehicle, Alert orexin-A (i.v. and nasal),
Sleep Deprivation, Sleep Deprivation + orexin-A (i.v. or nasal)], which
required 11–14 test sessions for each of the eight monkeys. Animals were
placed in a primate chair 1.5 m in front of an LCD-front-projection
screen for daily testing on a multi-image visual delayed match-to-sample
(DMS) task and performed 150–300 trials per session (Hampson et al.,
2004; Porrino et al., 2005). Animals were trained to move a cursor
tracked by a fluorescent marker attached to the back of the monkey's
hand into the images by positioning the hand within a two dimensional
coordinate system on the chair counter. Stimuli consisted of clip art
images projected as 25 cm squares within a 3 x 3 position matrix onto a
1.0 x 1.0 m display. All images were unique to a particular trial during
a session and no image was exposed on more than on one trial per
session. Responses to appropriate stimuli were rewarded with diluted
fruit juice delivered via a sipper tube placed in front of the mouth.
All animals were trained to a stable baseline on the DMS task in which
delay varied randomly from 1 to 90 s on a given trial, and the number of
non-match stimuli (images) varied randomly from 1 to 7 in the Match
phase of the task. As shown previously performance accuracy varied
directly with duration of delay and number of non-match images (#images)
presented in the Match phase (Hampson et al., 2004; Porrino et al.,
2005). Sets of stimulus images were routinely changed every 2 weeks to
maintain the trial-unique feature of each session. Animals performed the
task on consecutive days each week.
Sleep deprivation procedure. Sleep deprivation consisted of
30–36 h of continuous sleep prevention and wakefulness supervised
continuously by laboratory personnel as previously verified using EEG
recordings of sleep architecture. On sleep deprivation nights animals
were maintained in a cage separate from their home cage in a
continuously lighted room and kept awake with videos, music, occasional
treats, gentle cage shaking, and interaction with technicians (working
in 3 h shifts) through the night, until the usual daily testing time the
next day. After testing animals were returned to their home cage and
allowed to sleep. In a previous investigation (Porrino et al., 2005)
evidence was provided that changes in brain imaging correlates of local
glucose utilization during the DMS task (see below) were consistent with
simultaneously recorded EEG changes produced by 30–36 h of sleep
deprivation. Hence, replication of the same brain imaging correlates of
sleep deprivation in this study verified that each animal was tested in
the same sleep loss condition as reported preciously. Intervals of 10 d,
mandated by IACUC regulations, were interspersed between sleep
deprivation episodes for each animal. There were no residual effects of
the 30–36 h sleep deprivation regimen on testing 24 h afterward at which
time animals had returned to their normal sleep patterns."
Apparently, from this text, these primates are deprived of sleep for a
minimum of 30 hours, confined to restraint chairs, and also have limited
access to water. It is clear that these primates experience unrelieved
pain/distress, and I am assuming that they comprise part of the 18
primates listed for North Carolina as experiencing unrelieved pain and
distress during 2006. This publication also lists that these primates
were individually housed, and so I was wondering how this is handled,
with regard to requirements for environmental enhancement for primates?
As I am sure that you can imagine, I am concerned about the welfare
of animals that experience such a protocol. Therefore, I am very
interested in assuring that they are not in any immediate distress,
hence my request for a tour.
And so, I would like to renew my request for the opening of dialogue
regarding all of these experiments which involve unrelieved
pain/distress in non-human primates. I think that it is absolutely vital
that, in the interest of open dialogue, disclosure, and public
information, that you allow a tour which will provide access to these
laboratories.
I trust that in the future we can keep all discussions to a factual
nature, and avoid statements such as those made by Mr. Wright in his
initial reply.
Again, I hope to hear from a representative of Wake Forest University
to discuss the arrangements necessary for the tour and meetings within
the next five business days.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T.,
Executive Director, SAEN
See also :
USDA - APHIS Report - 2004
See also : Wake Forest University,
Winston-Salem, NC
