VA tests that would kill dogs ‘troubling’

WASHINGTON — A proposed experiment that may lead to dogs being euthanized has members of Congress asking questions about animal testing at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

In a letter this week to the Veterans Affairs inspector general, eight Southern California lawmakers were among those demanding to know more, including how much the experiment could cost and what other tests the facility was conducting on animals.

The proposed experiment involves giving 18 narcoleptic Dobermans antidepressants or methamphetamine, then killing the dogs and studying how the drugs affect the production of histamines — the body’s response to allergens — in their brains.

The goal is to determine whether heightened histamine production in narcoleptics is a response to treatment or a part of the disease itself.

The animal rights group White Coat Waste Project, which obtained a copy of the 2016 research application for the experiment through a Freedom of Information Act request, brought the proposal to the lawmakers’ attention.

Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), who represents the area where the VA is located, said he was “deeply troubled” to learn about the experiment described in the application.

“No federal agency should be doing that,” Lieu said. “If this is true, these dogs are being abused.”

It is unclear whether the experiment was approved or is underway. Lieu said he planned to push to stop it if the department confirmed that the experiment was in progress.

The Department of Veterans Affairs directed questions about the experiment to the agency’s inspector general. A spokesman said the inspector general was reviewing the lawmakers’ letter.

According to Justin Goodman, White Coat Waste Project’s vice president, the VA experiments on half a million animals a year in 74 of its facilities — four of which conduct medical testing on dogs. It’s not clear how many dogs are tested at those facilities.

In their letter, the lawmakers took exception to an April 3 VA statement in which the agency appeared to describe the Los Angeles experiment as an “observational” study.

“Such harmful experiments on dogs cannot reasonably be described as observational,” the letter said. “We are also concerned that without access to FOIA documents, we would not have known the VA was providing misleading information or that dogs were even being used in these experiments at the Greater LA VA.”