ACTION ALERT:
Contact:
Dr. Robert Gibbens Director, Western Region, USDA
(970) 494-7478
[email protected]
[email protected]
SAMPLE MESSAGE:
Please LEVY the MAXIMUM FINE against Altasciences for their blatant
disregard of the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) when their negligence killed a
pig. Their behavior must NOT be tolerated and MUST be punished to the
fullest extent of the law.
Everett lab accused of killing pig during ‘botched’ blood draw
From Janice Podsada, Herald.net, October 24, 2019
A national animal rights group filed a federal complaint this week
against a south Everett animal testing laboratory after a routine blood draw
resulted in the death of a 5-month-old miniature pig.
Stop Animal Exploitation Now! filed the complaint with the U.S. Department
of Agriculture based on a confidential company report the group obtained.
Altasciences Co., a Canadian firm, operates the animal research facility,
which it purchased late last year from Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories.
“This is the first issue that we’ve seen since the change in ownership,”
said Michael Budkie, executive director of the nonprofit animal rights
group.
Budkie said the group retrieved a copy of the report as part of a regular
audit it conducts.
Altasciences filed a report of the incident with the National Institutes of
Health Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare.
“Animal labs must report any kind of compliance problem if they receive
federal funding or want to receive federal funding,” Budkie said.
On April 8, Altasciences’ technicians made multiple attempts to draw blood
from a young male pig over a 10-minute span when the animal “went limp and
became unresponsive.”
In a corrective/preventative action section, the company said in the future
it would “limit the blood collection attempts to three per technician” and
recommend staff heed a “time out” policy and give animals breaks between
tries, the report said.
Altasciences could not immediately be reached for comment.
“It is quite apparent that this botched procedure caused the death of the
animal, and that the mishandling of the procedure resulted in a seriously
traumatic incident. The inability of Altasciences staff to draw a simple
blood sample, without killing an animal, must raise questions as to their
qualifications and training,” Stop Animal Exploitation Now! wrote in a
letter to the USDA. The agency enforces the federal Animal Welfare Act.
The animal testing facility, which was founded in 1999, is located at 6605
Merrill Creek Parkway on a 29-acre site.
On the company’s website, Altasciences says its “entire preclinical staff is
trained in laboratory animal care and focused on animal welfare and
environmental enrichment—embracing compassion, sensitivity and adherence to
regulatory guidelines.”
The company provides early-stage research and other services to support the
development of new drugs and treatments for humans.
Clients include drug development firms and biopharmaceutical and medical
device companies.
In 2016, the facility’s previous owner, Shin Nippon, was fined $185,000 over a federal complaint that 38 monkeys died in the company’s care over a five-year period. Shin Nippon reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture that same year.
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