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The University of Michigan is under increasing pressure over another animal testing scandal
From Olivia Robinson, LocalStories.news, January 17, 2024
The University of Michigan is under increased scrutiny as a research
fraud scandal continues to unfold and another academic journal retracts an
article due to “unreliable” and duplicate data.
The research, which was partially funded by the federal government, included
highly invasive experiments that induced seizures in mice. Their brains were
later cut into pieces.
The National Center for Biotechnology Information retracted the April 2013
article late last year after citing concerns about its “scientific
validity.” Some of the information was “unlikely” and “unreliable,” the
magazine said in its retraction.
It’s just the latest publication to retract a paper by researchers at the
University of Michigan based on fake, fabricated or unreliable information
from recent years.
Stop animal exploitation now! (SAEN), a group that advocates for an end to
animal abuse in laboratories, previously discovered five UM research
publications that were retracted from health journals due to suspected
fraud.
In the latest case, SAEN filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services’ Office of Research Integrity on Tuesday, pointing
out that the research was funded by funds from the National Institutes of
Health. In total, nearly $1 million was spent on research that yielded no
useful information, the letter said.
“The mice in this project were injected with drugs that caused seizures and
even convulsions,” SAEN’s complaint states. “Then they were soaked in
formaldehyde and their brains were sliced. In other words, animals have
suffered terribly and died for nothing more than “unreliable” data.”
The lead researcher, Hisashi Umemori, should be prosecuted “for both
research fraud and animal abuse,” the lawsuit says.
It was not immediately clear whether Umemori still works at the university.
Metro Times could not immediately reach him for comment and is awaiting a
response from the university.
The previous five retracted journal articles involved research by Dr. Chung
Owyang, a gastroenterology researcher. In January 2023, UM announced that he
no longer worked at the university.
The recent revocation “has further damaged the reputation of the University
of Michigan, which was previously compromised by Chung Owyang,” the
complaint states. “We have to ask ourselves how many other UM researchers
are committing scientific misconduct at this moment.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited the university for seven
animal welfare law violations. The violations ranged from the botched
euthanasia of a rabbit to giving a calf expired medication.
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