Harvard Fined $24,036 by U.S. After Laboratory Primate Deaths

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http://www.businessweek.com/news/2013-12-18/harvard-fined-24-036-by-u-dot-s-dot-after-laboratory-primate-deaths

Harvard Fined $24,036 by U.S. After Laboratory Primate Deaths

By Alan Bjerga and Brian Wingfield, BusinessWeek.com, Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Harvard Medical School was fined $24,036 for alleged violations of the Animal Welfare Act related to the deaths of four primates used in research as well as several escapes and injuries of animals.

The 11 violations, which occurred between February 2011 and July 2012, included providing an animal with too much anesthesia and allowing others to become dehydrated, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a document on its website today.

Harvard Medical School spokesman David Cameron confirmed the USDA action and said the Boston-based medical school would pay the fines.

“Harvard would be in total compliance with this,” he said in a phone interview. He said he didn’t have further details.

The USDA said one animal had to be killed because of improperly administered anesthesia and another died with the chain from a toy wrapped around its neck. Other violations related to a food hopper that wasn’t secured properly, allowing apes to escape, and dehydration that led to two being euthanized.

Federal inspectors also observed signs of physical and psychological distress in the animals, the agency said.

“The USDA has literally let Harvard get away with murder,” Michael Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation NOW! of Milford, Ohio, said today in an e-mailed statement.

The Harvard case was one of eight enforcement actions announced by the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service on its website today.

The agency is responsible for enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act, which requires minimum standards of care and treatment for animals bred for commercial sale, used in research, transported commercially or exhibited to the public. The law excludes animals raised for food and fiber. 

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