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Date: 9/21/2021
AMHERST – The University of Massachusetts Amherst defended its practices after a recent demonstration by PETA calling for the end of experiments involving marmosets.
The protest, which drew celebrity attention in the form of actor and director Casey Afleck, was in response to the alleged use of the small primates in forced laboratory procedures.
UMass issued a statement to Reminder Publishing, that read, “Medical research has saved and improved the lives of millions of people and animals. Today’s medicines and surgical techniques would not have been discovered without a more comprehensive understanding of disease and the way the body works. That is the result of research programs at universities, hospitals and research facilities around the world, including UMass Amherst.
“Animal research has contributed to many of the medical advances we now know today, including vaccines, antibiotics, anesthesia and medicines used to treat serious conditions. Research in the last few decades has also begun to tackle some of the most complex medical problems we face such as heart disease, depression, HIV and cancer. Many key questions in science can only be addressed by studies on animals.
“UMass Amherst conducts research using animals to examine a wide range of health concerns. Animals are used in research when no better options exist. Animal research at UMass Amherst happens in a variety of fields of study, including veterinary science, agricultural science and different medical research fields.
“UMass Amherst has a commitment to care for laboratory animals that involves the highest ethical standards and rigorous attention and adherence to all applicable federal and state laws and guidelines.”
The lab in question is run by Professor Agnes Lacreuse. According to her lab’s public website, www.lacreuselab.com, its research focuses on Alzheimer’s disease, characterizing sex differences in cognitive aging, menopausal symptoms, and testing new breast cancer treatments.
The lab’s work is funded through grants from the National Institute on Aging.
Marmosets, the lab explains in its published information, are “ideally suited for longitudinal studies of aging due to their easy handling, naturally short life span ... and age-related changes which are similar to humans.”
PETA alleged in a press release that the university uses invasive surgical experiments designed to mimic the menopausal symptoms and cognitive function testing before terminating them. The organization cited a 2015 incident in which a marmoset was burned by a heating pad following a vasectomy and died. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service?included the incident in an inspection report the following year.
However, Lacreuse’s team stresses in a section of the website called “Learn The Facts”?that “We do not inflict pain on our animals!” It further denies the use of any inhumane testing, explaining animals receive incentives to engage in testing willingly and are not punished. The lab states the only test that creates stress is a “social separation test” that requires the animal be separated from its peers for a day to measure its coping abilities.
Further, the lab claims to follow the “Principles for the Ethical Treatment of Nonhuman Primates” from the American Society of Primatologists and animals are cared for according to guidelines of the U.S. National Research Council’s Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, the U.S. Public Health Service’s Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, and the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals
The university’s public webpage titled “The Case for Animals in Research and Teaching” also states that all of the institution’s research and teaching studies “involving living, non-human vertebrate animals,” including those conducted in Lacreuse’s lab, are reviewed and approved by Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) to ensure humane practices are utilized.