Watchdog: Scripps Research Institute Breaks Federal Law, Negligently Kills Research Subjects; May Invalidate Over $500,000 in Experiments
Press Release - From SAEN Stop Animal Exploitation Now

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 4, 2018
Contact: Michael Budkie, SAEN 513-703-9865, [email protected]

Watchdog: Scripps Research Institute Breaks Federal Law, Negligently Kills Research Subjects; May Invalidate Over $500,000 in Experiments
 
LA JOLLA, CA – Scripps Research Institute will lose a portion of the $500,000 it received in a taxpayer-funded research project after Scripps negligently killed animals in the study – and in another project Scripps broke federal law in the suffocation death of a research subject, according to a national research watchdog group.
 
Ohio-based SAEN (Stop Animal Exploitation NOW), which investigates animal abuse and illegal activities in U.S. research facilities, said today it has filed an official complaint with a federal oversight agency against the Scripps Research Institute for suspected federal violations connected to the gruesome suffocation death of the rabbit.
 
SAEN is also charging that Scripps negligence killed at least seven other animals and potentially invalidated experiments funded at over $500,000.
 
A U.S. Dept. of Agriculture inspection Dec. 5, 2017 found that a rabbit died during a botched surgical procedure at Scripps when an endotracheal tube became dislodged, cutting of the oxygen supply and effectively suffocating the rabbit.
 
SAEN's complaint alleged multiple violations of the Animal Welfare Act for Unqualified Personnel, and  improper animal handling, and calling for the maximum penalty of $10,000 per infraction/per animal. 
 
"If Scripps' staff is so inept as to fail to properly intubate a rabbit leading to suffocation, then not only has Scripps broken the law, but all of Scripps' experimentation is highly suspect at best,"  said Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T., SAEN executive director. 
 
To further demonstrate Scripps carelessness, SAEN also made public additional documents that detail Scripps negligence.  These Scripps reports, relevant to species not regulated by the Animal Welfare Act, document the death of at least seven animals exposed to alcohol fumes, which potentially invalidated more than a half million dollars in federally-funded projects.  Scripps was apparently forced to absorb the costs associated with these negligent deaths as "unallowable costs."
 
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See also:

• Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA

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