PETA’s ‘10 Worst Laboratories’ List

8. Oregon Health & Science University
In contrast to Portland’s otherwise progressive image, Oregon Health & Science University’s (OHSU) extensive animal testing is a shameful relic. OHSU’s Regional Primate Center houses almost 4,000 primates and used more than 900 of them in painful experiments, including tobacco and nicotine research and pregnancy studies.

In one troubling example, Eliot Spindel performed research on pregnant monkeys and other animals to see how nicotine exposure affects fetuses. In order to examine how vitamin C interacts with nicotine, Spindel injected the pregnant monkeys with nicotine and gave one group high doses of vitamin C. He then removed their fetuses by Cesarean-section surgery, performed invasive lung-function tests on the babies, and then killed the infants to conduct necropsies. His conclusions suggested that women can continue smoking during pregnancy if they take a vitamin—a dangerous distortion of the truth.

In another example of cruel OHSU pregnancy experiments, Miles Novy studies infection and preterm labor in pregnant rhesus monkeys by implanting chronic-dwelling catheters in the mother and the fetus as well as electrodes for recording vital signs and uterine contractions. He then uses the catheters to inject various kinds of bacteria into the mother’s reproductive organs, which causes infections. To protect the elaborate equipment that protrudes from their bodies, the monkeys are kept tethered in vests for months. Anyone who has endured a bladder infection knows that internal infections are excruciatingly painful, and it’s difficult to imagine the suffering endured by these monkeys.

OHSU is also home to a significant number of early-life stress experiments on primates. In these studies, infant monkeys are taken from their mothers to induce trauma, and researchers study the neurotic and disturbed behavior that ensues. For the most part, these studies have only confirmed what we already know from human observation: Neglect and abuse in early childhood often lead to developmental and behavioral problems.

In addition to conducting experiments on primates, OHSU uses nearly 2,000 other nonrodent animals, including pigs and sheep. In 2004, 248 sheep underwent painful procedures at OHSU, many of them in shocking sexual-orientation research that is troubling from both animal rights and human rights perspectives. Charles Rosselli of OHSU is studying the brains of homosexual sheep in an attempt to find the hormonal mechanisms behind homosexual tendencies so that they can subsequently be changed. PETA researchers have documented evidence in which Rosselli suggests that his work may someday apply to humans. OHSU’s steady stream of useless and cruel research has earned it a spot on our list.

Please write, call, fax, or e-mail the head of the university and politely ask him to stop these atrocities:

Peter Kohler, M.D., President
Oregon Health & Science University
3181 S.W. Sam Jackson Park Rd.
Portland, OR 97201-3098
503-494-8252
kohlerp@ohsu.edu