Animal Experimentation at the University of Utah
The following list is far from exhaustive. It does give an idea of what sort of research is underway on campus.
|
| Audie G. Leventhal |
|
"Dr. Leventhal studies the structure, function and development of the visual pathways in normal cats and monkeys as well as in cats and monkeys having abnormal early experiences [which he creates] and genetic defects. Neurophysiological, neuroanatomical and computer techniques are employed. The ultimate aim of this work is to clarify: (1) the mechanisms underlying the development of the retina and central visual pathways and (2) the anatomical and physiological substrates of visual perception." (U of U)
Leventhal's work has rarely been cited by other researchers and on the very few occasions that it has been, it has always been cited by others experimenting on animals. Dr. Leventhal's work seems to have been of no merit to doctors working with human patients. Leventhal has been cutting into living cats' brains and eyes since at least 1975 and has moved on to monkeys within the past few years.
|
| Richard L Siegler |
|
Siegler is using baby baboons to study diarrhea caused by enterohemorrhagic E. coli bacteria. This bacteria that produces potent toxins known as Shiga-like toxins (SLTs) or Verotoxins (VTs). Siegler explains that, "purified SLT-I ... will be infused into [the baby] baboons.
Federal law requires that plans be in place to promote the psychological well-being of non-human primates in all U.S. laboratories. Siegler's work is clear evidence that the law is hollow and seldom enforced. Removing infants from their mothers is traumatic to the babies and the mothers.
Caging infant primates away from their mothers is, in and of itself, cruel. The fact that they will be infused with potent toxins merely adds injury to insult.
|
| Salvatore J. Fidone |
|
In 1998 Fidone published results of his experiments on cats. He first reduced the available oxygen in the air they were breathing by half. He left them in this oxygen depleted environment for two weeks. Following this the cats' carotid body (an area of the carotid artery) was no longer functioning normally. He noted that even if the nerves to this structure were cut, it still acted abnormally after prolonged oxygen deprivation.
|
| James W. Gibb |
|
Gibb injects amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, and a host of other illicit drugs into rats and records the effects on their brain chemistry.
|
| Franz Goller |
|
"Dr. Goller studies tile behavioral physiology of sound production and song learning in songbirds. Current projects focus on I) physical mechanisms of sound production; 2) the motor coordination between respiratory and vocal muscle systems; 3) the role of acoustic feedback during song learning. Neurophysiological methods and a variety of other, newly developed physiological techniques are combined with behavioral analyses to investigate aspects of motor control in spontaneously singing birds." (U of U)
"Neurophysiological methods and a variety of other, newly developed physiological techniques," means paralyzing various muscles in baby birds, and perhaps some electrode implantation.
|
| Raymond P. Kesner |
|
Kesner is involved in research that seems to come directly Out of the 1950s. He puts rats in mazes after either injecting chemicals into their brains of damaging parts of their brains and then records whether his manipulations interfere with their ability to learn.
|
| Robert E. Marc |
|
Marc damages the eyes of cats and records the results. His research history includes similar work on turtles, monkeys, goldfish, chickens and rabbits.
|
| Richard H. Schmidt |
|
"Most recently, [Schmidt has been studying] the effect of concussive head [with rats.] The goal will be to relate how damage to these systems affects cognitive, memory and motivational functions." (U of U) This will be done by placing the injured rats in a "water maze" and see how quickly they are still able to find their way to "safety."
|
| H. Steve White |
|
Dr. White's work has focused on understanding seizures in the genetically audiogenic Susceptible Frings mouse, a stain intentionally inbred since 1959 to maintain and reinforce the genetic abnormality. White, et al explain, "Frings audiogenic seizure-susceptible mice are a model for sensory-evoked reflex seizures. Their seizure phenotype is characterized by wild running, loss of righting reflex, tonic flexion, and tonic extension in response to high-intensity sound stimulation."
|
| Bradley D. Anderson |
|
Anderson writes, "This proposal represents a collaborative effort between investigators at the University of Utah and University of Washington to improve CNS delivery of anti-HIV drugs used in combination therapy and to assess the value of such improvements in targeting the reservoirs of replicating HIV in the brain in an infant macaque model of neuro-AIDS."
|
|
The information found here was gleaned from on-line university sources, on-line medical journal abstracts, and federally funded databases. It is all public information.
For more information contact:
In Defense of Animals
131 Camino Alto, Suite E
Mill Valley, CA 94941
(415) 388 9641
http://www.idausa.org
|