By Brooke Miller
Just when officials of the UW Graduate School and the Wisconsin Regional
Primate Center said they thought the worst
of their troubles were over, new ones arose.
Joseph Kemnitz, interim director of primate center claimed that despite
violations to the 1989 agreement between the
university and Vilas Zoo, no violations occurred during his leadership, which
began a year ago.
Kemnitz now admits that invasive research did occur during his term in one
instance last November when a monkey had
her fetus removed 20 days after conception.
A month ago, UW-Madison admitted to breaking a 1989 agreement by performing
invasive research on Vilas Zoo
monkeys.
"It was an error," Kemnitz said, "not an intentional exception to the
agreement."
Kemnitz said the monkey is alive and well at the primate center, not having
been used for any additional experimentation.
According to reports, two other monkeys were used in research during the past
year which may have been invasive, thus
violating the agreement further.
One of the monkeys reportedly had its ova surgically removed, while the other
was given drugs and suffered from
seizures.
Five other monkeys have been used in AIDS research in the past year, although
they were not given the monkey
equivalent of AIDS.
These procedures are not in violation with the agreement, according to
Kemnitz.
"All of these procedures have been regarded as noninvasive," he said.
Virginia Hinshaw, Dean of the graduate school, said that it is important to
see one violation in context compared to all the
animal research that was going on at the time.
"It was an accident," she said. "It was inappropriate, but you have to
keep it
in perspective."
According to Hinshaw, researchers at the primate center are currently putting
a hold on procedures which might be
considered invasive. She said they are being very conscientious as to the
policies and restrictions of the agreement to
ensure no more violations occur.
"I can't believe this is still happening on our campus," said John Peck of
the
UW Greens.
Gale Davy, executive director of the Wisconsin Association for Biomedical
Research and Education said animal research
is too important to stop.
"Animal research has been vital in nearly every medical advance of the
century," she said.
Davy said UW was wrong in violating its agreement with Vilas Zoo by
performing
invasive research on the monkeys, but
said a balance needed to be found so that animals are treated well and can be
used for valuable research.
News Reporter
September 22, 1997