PETA alleges ASU professors and students are conducting the following classroom experiments:
- Injecting various drugs into rabbits who have had holes cut into their chests and observe their heart rate and blood pressure. The rabbits are then killed.
- Experimenters destroy frogs' brains by sticking a pin through their skulls. The animals are then dissected while their hearts are still beating.
- Weeks-old rats are killed, and students remove their small intestines and uteruses for experiments.
- Female mice are killed and their embryos are taken for dissection.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a complaint against ASU on Thursday for suspected animal cruelty in anatomy and physiology classrooms.
Justin Goodman, a research supervisor at PETA, said the complaint was filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture after ASU records confirmed student complaints PETA received about inhumane practices in some courses, specifically BIO 361, Animal Physiology Laboratory.
PETA cited four specific laboratory experiments ASU students and staff allegedly participated in, including injecting rabbits with drugs while observing their heart rates and blood pressure through holes cut into their chests and later killing them.
“Killing animals in these archaic experiments is unjustifiable, especially when humane alternative methods are available,” said PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. “Arizona State University has shown an apparent disregard for the letter and spirit of animal-protection law and guidelines, and we’re asking the USDA to take action.”
Other experiments listed in the complaint were the dissection of frogs while their hearts are beating after sticking pins through their skulls into their brains, killing rats to remove their small intestines and uteruses and killing female mice before taking their embryos for dissection.
ASU has said that members of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approved all instructors’ plans for the use of animals in classroom experimentation after PETA initially contacted ASU in January in regard to the classroom experiments.
ASU officials released a statement on Thursday refuting the allegations of any animal mistreatment.
“The [PETA] press release is inaccurate and misleading. Animals are NEVER treated cruelly or inhumanely at ASU,” the statement said. “They do not experience pain or distress in the experiments, as stated by PETA. Any animal used in teaching at ASU is either deeply anesthetized or euthanized (the majority), thus experiencing no pain or distress.“
Goodman said ASU must foster a respect and sensitivity for life, because treating animals like disposable science materials perpetuates disrespect.
ASU’s statement also addressed each of the four experiments cited by PETA as inhumane.
According to ASU officials, the rabbits are put under deep anesthesia and only small incisions are made in their necks.
ASU said it follows American Veterinary Medical Association methods regarding the other three experiments, including the “pithing” method, or inserting pins into frogs’ heads.
Goodman said PETA hopes this complaint will serve as a wake-up call and ASU faculty and staff will realize that students want to be taught using the most ethical and effective methods possible.
“We hope it encourages the University to adopt more modern and humane teaching tools,” Goodman said. “These labs don’t exist because they are the best, most effective methods, but because of archaic traditions and personal bias of faculty. We need to show them students want an ethical and modern education.”
There are several alternative methods the University could use to teach anatomy and physiology, including interactive computer programming as well as using other students as models of the different part of human anatomy, he said.
These alternative methods are more ethical and effective, Goodman said, citing that 95 percent of medical schools no longer practice on animals.
ASU has said while it doesn’t currently offer a complete non-animal alternative for experimentation, officials encouraged further development of alternatives for the future.
“At this point in time, life-saving treatments and critical medical advances depend on the study of whole, living organisms, and these advances cannot currently be achieved any other way,” the statement said.
Reach the reporter at michelle.parks@asu.edu.
