Researchers accused of mistreatment

SAN FRANCISCO – Federal regulators have accused University of California researchers of mistreating animals used in medical experiments over a three-year period, according to a complaint made public Tuesday by an animal-rights group.

The Aug. 31 complaint showed the Department of Agriculture issued 60 alleged violations of animal-care regulations stemming from research conducted between 2001 and 2003, including charges that scientists at the San Francisco campus experimented on a monkey’s brain without giving the animal pain killers.

Among the 60 civil charges are allegations that researchers overbred monkeys, deprived monkeys of water, and operated on a lamb and its fetus without anesthesia.

“The gravity of (the university’s) violations is great,” the complaint read.

The school faces punishment ranging from fines to the loss of its medical research license if the allegations prove true.

The complaint was distributed to reporters by In Defense of Animals, an organization that has been investigating and complaining about UCSF’s handling of laboratory animals.

University officials said they had not received a copy of the complaint.

“It is puzzling to us that this group would know about the charge before UCSF received it,” Vice Chancellor Ara Tahmassian said in a statement.

Tahmassian said he believed the university has already corrected all the problems being alleged. The school paid a $2,000 fine in 2000 for depriving a monkey of water in behavior experiments.

“On preliminary review, this document appears to be a restatement, a compilation, of citations previously issued to UCSF,” Tahmassian said.

Suzanne Roy, program director for the animal-rights group, said the USDA released a copy of the complaint Friday after activists inquired about it.

“These things have been going on for a long time,” Roy said. “It’s sloppy science.”

Tahmassian said the school would conduct an “in-depth review” once it receives the complaint. He defended scientists’ need to experiment on animals.

“UCSF considers the use of animals in research an essential component of progress in the medical sciences,” he said.