Is UH hiding animal torture?
Cathy Goeggel 10/22/07 The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, which is federally mandated under the Animal Welfare Act, is comprised of University of Hawaii faculty and members of the community. All members are selected by UH to monitor, well, UH. The committee is required to inspect facilities where research on animals covered by the act is performed, review research protocols and file an inspection report with the university. Research animals at UH include Actus monkeys, rabbits, cats, guinea pigs, armadillos and hamsters among others. The committee also holds power over captive animals’ lives – whether they live or die, and whether or not they receive pain killers. They are truly the arbiters of life and death, contentment and pain. As UH appoints the committee, research facilities using animals are essentially self-regulating. Because unaffiliated committee members are chosen by the monitored laboratory, they are easily outvoted, since most committees require only a major
