32 monkeys overheated in US labs
The authorities and thorough review of practices in the laboratory
two people now have to check the barcode and concentration on the container match the printed dose request kept in the study folder.
“However, it is possible for a barcode scanner to be used so that animals can’t be dosed until the substance label has been registered via the scanner and computer, yet this safeguarding procedure has not, to the whistleblower’s knowledge, been put in place.”
The whistleblower also raised concerns about the level of animal care at weekends due to a skeleton staff system being employed by the firm. Peta complained: “They are allowed to go home once their tasks are complete; however, it was pointed out to us that some staff members have a tendency to rush their jobs so they could go home sooner. This, therefore, raises concerns about the level of care taken in carrying out these duties,” the letter said.
Dr Julia Baines, a senior science policy adviser at Peta UK, said: “Experimenting on animals is a dirty business, and Charles River Laboratories is one of the world’s top peddlers of misery and death, reportedly supplying one in every two animals used in experiments and therefore having a hand in half of all the pain, fear and distress endured by animals in laboratories around the globe.
“The company has previously been found to have violated animal welfare regulations in the US and now in Scotland. Animals are not inanimate pieces of laboratory equipment to be recklessly drugged, gassed, discarded or cut up in cruel experiments.
“PETA is calling for the
Charles River Laboratories is a US corporation founded in 1947. Its headquarters are located in Wilmington, Massachusetts, US, and it has 80 facilities in 20 countries and 14,700 employees worldwide.
Its laboratory in Tranent, East Lothian, employs nearly 1,000 staff and traces its origins back to post-war seaweed research at Inveresk village. Since then the firm has branched out into pharmacology and toxicology.
The company was previously called Inveresk Research, which merged with Charles River Laboratories in 2005. In 2006, it emerged the Home Office had cleared the research centre after allegations it had breached its animal testing licence.
The Home Office conducted an investigation after photos were leaked by Animal Defenders International of dogs with masks over their faces and a monkey in clamps at its lab in Tranent.
Last month, it was announced that data analysis firm called Fios Genomics had entered into a partnership with Charles River Laboratories. Fios Genomics is an Edinburgh University spin-out.
Fios Genomics helps pharmaceutical and biotech companies analyse the large amounts of data generated during drug development.
An undercover investigation last year by The Humane Society of the United States revealed more than 60,000 dogs had been experimented on by Charles River.
In 2008, 32 monkeys died of overheating at the company’s laboratory in Sparks, Nevada, after a climate system failure. Peta filed a complaint with the US over the incident.
The following year, a monkey died at the same facility after being left in their cage as it was going through a hot cage washer. Charles River was fined $14,500 for the two
incidents.