9/29/2016: Regulators gone wild. I was with a famous orthopedic researcher today for lunch. He is head of orthopedic research at two of America’s most prestigious universities.
Now listen to this. He has a grant funded to study spinal cord injuries that will start soon, so there is no money available presently. He wanted to study the rat’s spinal cord anatomy so that when the project starts, he will know exactly the approach and technique to this heretofore unexplored anatomy.
So he asked around the laboratory for any dead rats. None were available. So with his own money he purchased some rats and humanely euthanized them. He then dissected the spine and spinal cord to see how best to perform their up coming research.
The regulators at his institution learned of this and called him in for an explanation. He had violated the regulations by not registering his use of the rats, especially killing them.
He received a 6 week “sanction” and cessation from research activities as the punishment.
Rats are killed every day in every city in America. It is legal. Home Depot sells the poisons and traps. People spend their own money to do this with no research in mind. This is legal. No reprisals and no regulators.
