Other "Pet Food" Companies: Contracting With Killers
University of Missouri-Columbia
University staff members Wayne McDaniel, Michael Sturek, and Ronald
McLaughlin have ties to the laboratory that we investigated.
McDaniel, with his clients from TASER International, used the facility
and the animals there to test TASER’s personal self-defense weaponry.
McDaniel claims that this research was not affiliated with the university.
Sturek used the facility to conduct diabetes experiments on animals.
On Wednesday, November 13, 2002, the president of the laboratory sent
Sturek the following e-mail message:
We need to discuss the Yucatan project … there seem to be problems with
the induction of the diabetes … it seems that about 50% of the pigs die
after induction. The grad students do not supervise the animals for very long
after the induction and it may be the cause of death. They appear to leave within
one hour after administration of the alloxan. Two pigs were induced yesterday
and one was dead this a.m. … I understand that your grad students are not
very enthusiastic about coming here and doing the work since it is far from town
and some procedures only last a few minutes. However, the animals need to recover
properly.
McLaughlin, a veterinarian and director of the University of Missouri-Columbia’s
Office of Laboratory Animal Medicine, has reportedly been using electric shocks
to force pigs to run on treadmills. We were told that, in McLaughlin’s
high-fat diet experiments, students were paid to sit behind pigs and shock them
to ensure that they ran the required distance. Not only are these high-fat diet
experiments cruel and unnecessary given all of the human medical literature and
data, they are also allegedly teaching students to torture animals. This purported
lesson in cruelty is even more serious if the students are being overseen by
McLaughlin, who serves as chair of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
(IACUC) for the contract laboratory that we investigated. If his “oversight” of
this hellhole is any indication of the job that he is doing at the university,
the animals there are in serious trouble.
The university has not responded to our concerns. Please let university officials
know that the mistreatment of animals by staff members (regardless of where it
occurs or who sponsors it) as well as the university’s refusal to respond
to these serious issues reflect poorly on the institution as a whole:
Richard L. Wallace, Chancellor
Office of the Chancellor
105 Jesse Hall
University of Missouri-Columbia
Columbia, MO 65211
573-882-3387
573-882-9907 (fax)
chancellor_office@missouri.edu
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