PETA Video Spurs UNC Lab Inquiry

At a press conference Thursday, UNC officials defended the policies in place to protect animals used in campus labs.

"We really believe we give great care to our animals," said Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research.

Waldrop said he had viewed the PETA tape and said officials will look into the accusations. "There are things we want to investigate," Waldrop said.

The video, shot by PETA undercover investigator Kate Turlington, shows researchers decapitating mice with scissors and footage of Turlington finding live mice feeding on a dead mouse. Turlington also filmed "extremely sick and injured" rodents being neglected, some paralyzed or with broken necks.

Turlington started working at the lab in October and documented the alleged violations for about six months. She never disclosed her ties to the animal rights group and wore a hidden camera under her clothes to record the events.

She said in a Thursday interview that many of the practices shown in the video violate rules prescribed by UNC's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and the National Institutes of Health. The IACUC is a board that oversees and approves all research projects using live vertebrate animals at the University, as required by federal law. The NIH is a federal group that funds scientific research provided that procedures are followed.

Turlington said she hopes the allegations will prove that the federal government should oversee research institutions because they are unable to govern themselves -- a charge UNC officials disputed.

Jeffrey Houpt, School of Medicine dean, said rules are in place to prevent the actions depicted in the PETA video. But he added, "It's always possible for protocol to be broken." Waldrop noted that all research done at the labs conforms to rules set by the NIH. "We go even beyond what the (NIH) requirements are."

Waldrop noted at the press conference the benefits of using rodents to investigate human ailments, saying that the animals are used to research conditions such as epilepsy and alcoholism.

UNC received $236.8 million from the NIH in 2001, the 12th highest total in the nation. Waldrop said officials are not worried about losing NIH funding as a result of PETA's video, and a spokesman from the NIH declined to comment Thursday about any possible implications of PETA's investigation.

Waldrop said UNC labs are accredited by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care, a private organization that offers voluntary accreditation for labs seeking funding.

Turlington said she was taught procedures she considered humane during her two-day training. But she said she saw many cases of abuse after starting. "It was very clear the way I was trained wasn't the way things were done," Turlington said.

She said complaints from her and other lab technicians were not taken into consideration by the researchers. "Our concerns weren't taken seriously," she said.

In e-mails copied by Turlington and sent to The Daily Tar Heel, Turlington alerted Steve Pomeroy, UNC's assistant director of laboratory animal medicine, and Rhonda Lewallen of IACUC about the violations she had noticed. She said neither office responded.

Waldrop said that the IACUC had received complaints but that some of the allegations reported Thursday were new. Turlington later denied that assertion.

Turlington said Thursday's press conference was just a front put on by officials. "They appear concerned. But when it comes down to it, they do nothing."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.