UW-Madison scientists may face criminal charges for sheep experiments

[undeterred]

UW-Madison scientists worry about chilling effect of potential charges
By DEBORAH ZIFF and RON SEELY | Wisconsin State Journal | Posted: Thursday, June 3, 2010 7:49 pm |


A victory for animal rights groups this week could pose a frightening prospect for UW-Madison scientists. A judge Wednesday appointed a special prosecutor to decide whether nine scientists and officials should be criminally charged — which could mean a fine or jail time — under a state law that prohibits killing animals by decompression.

The scientists used sheep to study decompression sickness, or the bends. Multiple sheep died in the studies, which were funded in part by the U.S. Navy to learn how to prevent the malady in divers. Officials at UW-Madison said they were aware of the state law but didn't believe it applied to them because of an exemption for scientific research in the state statutes.

The case has attracted national attention because it is unusual for animal rights groups, Madison-based Alliance for Animals and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), to use a state law to fight the research in court. Typically, such challenges fall under the federal animal welfare act and are investigated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The risk of criminal charges could be worrisome to scientists who want to do research involving animal studies, university research officials said. "Any kind of an approach that puts scientists or anyone else at risk for legal action obviously is going to have a kind of dampening effect," said Eric Sandgren, director of the UW-Madison animal care and use program, one of the nine who could be charged.

The studies, which have been going on for more than 20 years, have been used by the Navy to prevent or treat decompression sickness in submariners and divers, according to university officials. The experiments involved placing sheep in a hyperbaric chamber, subjecting them to increased atmospheric pressure, followed by decreased pressure, to simulate ascending from a dive. Dale Bjorling, chairman of the department of surgical sciences in the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, said the decompression research has saved lives and prevented suffering among Navy divers. He said the work resulted in more accurate decompression tables for divers, allowing them to better calculate the amount of time needed to surface without getting the bends.



http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/education/university/article_b5e123ec-6f67-11df-b25f-001cc4c002e0.html

Sheep as the resource for decompression tables? This seems weird to me.

[htuttle]

1. It's getting complicated for the poor scientists at UW Madison

Okay, let's try it again:

Cloning sheep? That's Okay.

Killing sheep through decompression? That's Not Okay.

Having sex with dead sheep? It used to be sort of Okay, in that it wasn't actually illegal in WI, but they were trying to pass a law against it recently. Don't remember if it passed...

[undeterred]

2. No sex with road kill or dead people in WI

but that doesn't include sheep!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. "This seems weird to me."

Meh. I suppose the blood chemistry between humans and other large mammals isn't that much different.