After lodging a complaint to the Minister of Agriculture, Jim Anderton, in September 2007 about the unnecessary use of animals in research SAFE has finally received a response. SAFE made the complaint following comments by animal researcher Alan Goldenthal who runs New Zealand's leading companion animal breeding and research facility. Goldenthal publicly admitted that numerous New Zealand research protocols were either redundant, complementary, or sequential to studies being performed elsewhere. He seriously questioned the effectiveness of New Zealand's Animal Ethics Committees (AECs). In the complaint, SAFE asked the minister to launch an independent inquiry to examine Goldenthal's claims since AECs are tasked with preventing unnecessary research. To SAFE's astonishment and disappointment, the minister asked the National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee (NAEAC) to investigate itself. The NAEAC subsequently reported that they do not know to what extent wasteful duplication of animal research occurred. Despite this admission they then stated that this duplication represents a small proportion of any research carried out. In the minister's response to SAFE's complaint it is revealed that the NAEAC advised the Minister that they would remind AECs to have procedures in place to ensure the avoidance of duplication of research. They would also request AECs to insist researchers confirm that they have undertaken relevant investigations to ensure they are not duplicating research. "It is clear that there are major problems with New Zealand's ethics committees if they have to be reminded to have procedures in place to avoid the unnecessary use of animals in research," says SAFE campaign director Hans Kriek. "Animal ethics committees were supposed to have been doing this since they were established in 1983 so you have to wonder what they have been doing all this time." According to the minister, some companies are unwilling to publish the results of their research for commercial reasons. "This means that duplication of research is unavoidable. It is disappointing that once again we see financial interests placed before animal welfare. The minister and the NAEAC are failing to uphold the principles of the Animal Welfare Act 1999 in relation to animals in research. Unless we see a dramatic change in attitude and direction, laboratory animals will continue to suffer needlessly in the foreseeable future," says Hans.
18 August 2008
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