Dog Experimentation Bill May Limit Research

Medical researchers at Harvard and other Massachusetts universities are growing increasingly concerned about legal limits imposed on their work. Much of their attention has recently been focused on a referendum which passed two weeks ago enacting restrictions on the storage of radioactive waste--the by-product of a large portion of research in immunology and biogenetics.

But many professors say they feel equally threatened by state legislation which has passed the House, and is now on verge of receiving state Senate approval.

House Bill 6539, the so-called "dog-pound seizure repeal bill," would prevent the of pound dogs for medical research.

Dogs are used mainly for cardiovascular work, and are also the main animals used for studying diabetic hypertension, metabolic problems, and the use of artificial pancreases.

Winter

While researchers secure some canines from dealers or breeding companies, "the majority of research [at Harvard] is with pound dogs." Dr. Richard F. Rodger, an assistant clinical veterinarian at Harvard's New England Regional Primate Research Center, said yesterday. The Southboro, Mass center buys about 2500 dogs from area pounds each year.

Supporters of the proposed anti-seizure bill, however, such as the New England Anti-Vivisection League and the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, have been campaigning for 10 years to curb such practices. "The argument is one of humanity," said Edward Cotter, the legislative lobbyist for the proposed bill. "Many of these dogs were once people's pets," he said.

Harvard's Vice President for Government and Community Affairs. James B. King, responded that few of the animals obtained from pounds were ever pets. Most were strays from birth and would be destroyed even if not used in experiments, he said.

But the "humanity" argument, and an intensive media campaign have apparently won over several thousand Common-wealth citizens. "There has been more mail on this subject than any bill on anything else in the State House in the last two years," said King.

Dromedary?

The bill passed the House in late June by a 137 to 2 vote. It is currently on its way to a floor vote in the Senate and Cotter said he is "cautiously optimistic" that the code will become law before the end of the year.

If that happens, the effect on cardiovascular research will be "devastating," said Dr. A. Clifford Barger, Pfeiffer Professor of Physiology. The cost of purchasing and preparing pound dogs is roughly $50 a piece, he said adding that other sources might cost as much as 10 times more. That increase would either force the University to devote more experimental projects.

Some researchers contend further that pound animals, because of their probable cross-breeding and their past contact with humans, actually make better lab animals.

But supporters of the bill argue that medical researchers are "distorting the facts." Cotter said that specially-bred animals can be used directly for experimentation, while pound animals need to be treated medically through a process that increases their cost.