Webster Designated as an Expert Witness in Taser Lawsuit

Chancellor Wiley maintains that there is no problem with retaining Wayne McDaniel as a consultant on the pig-shocking team because unlike Stratbucker, he is "not currently a paid consultant for Taser International." McDaniel's paid presence will supposedly "help ensure that Dr. Webster's current study does not simply duplicate other studies." In our response to the Chancellor, we pointed out that the Animal Welfare Act stipulates that it is the principal investigator—that is, Webster—who is charged with that responsibility. The chancellor's comment only confirms our contention that Webster's experiments are remarkably similar to earlier ones, and it's even more outrageous that the earlier ones were conducted by McDaniel himself.

McDaniel's Taser projects have brought Taser International money into the University of Missouri, where he teaches electrical engineering. He has a long and intimate relationship with the company, regardless of whether he appears on Taser International's roster as an employee or a consultant. He is as convinced of the Taser's safety as Stratbucker and Webster are.

PETA has discovered that a third consultant on Webster’s pig experiment is tied to Taser’s purse strings. The company retained him as a designated witness for the defense in a wrongful death suit. PETA wrote a letter to the NIJ and to Chancellor Wiley, pointing out yet another Taser influence in this so-called “independent study.” Stratbucker’s gone, McDaniel hangs on, and now the spotlight is on Dorin Panescu, who has collaborated on numerous publications with Stratbucker and Webster. Webster markets himself as an expert in Taser safety, and Taser International itself named him as an expert witness in a wrongful death suit (eventually dismissed).

Ask the acting director of the NIJ how obvious it has to be that there is a blatant bias in this experiment, and tell him that funding this experiment on animals is completely insupportable:

Glenn R. Schmitt, Acting Director
National Institute of Justice
U.S. Department of Justice
Washington, DC 20531

Read more. >