f6098d8b__and_Use_of_Laboratory_Animals__Comments
[ID] 119 [Entry Date] 04/18/2011 at 09:38:22 AM [Affiliation] Self [Comments] 
Comment 1: My understanding is that the new "Guide" will be twice the size of the old guide. I wish to register my opposition to any increases in the regulation of animal research. To expand it further serves little need other than to mollify extremist animal rights groups intent on making biomedical research with animals so cumbersome that it will be nearly impossible to do. I also request that existing regulations be modified so as to reduce the disabling burdens they place upon biomedical researchers who are trying to cure diseases that cause human and animal suffering. Biomedical researchers who use animals in their research are already suffocating in a litany of regulations that range from practical to absurd. Many of these regulations are attributable to animal rights extremists who misrepresent animal research as torture. To move in the direction of abolishing all animal research, they have promulgated falsehoods to a sufficiently large number of activists who have lobbied congress successfully to impose regulations that cripple animal research. As the parent of a child who died from an illness that might have been cured by now had it not been for the ability of extremist animal rightists to prevent the biomedical research needed to cure his and other children's diseases, I greatly resent the implementation of any additional impediments to animal research. More enlightened countries such as Singapore are capable of discerning truth from hyperbole. This is why they are becoming a Mecca for biomedical researchers and we are beginning to see a brain drain from the United States. I have a specific concern regarding Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs). I believe that they are now compromising biomedical research so badly that biomedical researchers spend more time dealing with trivial and often inane demands of IACUCs than they spend preparing grant proposals. Many years ago Philip Zimbardo conducted a psychological experiment in which some students simulated prison guards while others simulated prisoners. The experiment had such disastrous effects that it had to be terminated prematurely, after only 6 days, because of the harm it was doing to the "prisoners". I submit that today's IACUC members are the equivalent of the "guards" and that animal researchers are the equivalent of the "prisoners". I believe that IACUCs are so far out of control that it is only a matter of time before researchers begin to take legal actions against IACUC members who abuse their position on the IACUC causing damage to the careers of biomedical researchers and impairment of research to cure diseases. Therefore I further recommend that any changes in the 8th edition of the "Guide" include a scaling back of the powers of IACUCs. Additionally, there should be a provision added to enable animal researchers to institute research misconduct proceedings against IACUC members whom they believe to be acting improperly. Additionally, explicit warnings should be given to IACUC members that they could be held legally responsible for improper conduct of their role in IACUCs. Comment 2: I oppose any additional regulations that would further hinder instutions conducting biomedical research from squandering scarce financial resources on regulations foisted upon our society by extremist animal rights groups whose ultimate goal is to stop biomedical research using animals.
Listing of Public Comments on Proposed Adoption and Implementation of the Eighth Edition of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals