Researcher's Beagle Testing Unnecessary, Protesters Say
September 28, 2000
ASU State Press
Tempe, AZ
By Scott Bewick
State Press
Animal rights activists claim that a Phoenix brain-tumor researcher is performing cruel and wasteful experiments on beagles that were housed as ASU for nine years and called for an end to his experiments Wednesday.
Michael Berens has been working on trying to develop a canine model of malignant brain tumors for research and testing of cancer treatments.
The dogs he tested on were kept at ASU from 1990 to 1999. He left when concerns arose about how the research was progressing, said Edward Castafleda, ASU associate professor of psychology.
"The animal model he was using was not generating as successful as model as we hoped." Castafleda said. "We were coming close to a decision to terminate the protocol (project) when he left."
Berens currently does his research at the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix.
Elliot Katz, president of In Defense of Animals, an animal rights group, said ASU should have done more to stop this earlier but most of the blame should go to the Barrow Institute.
"The facility that needs to be held responsible is Barrow," Katz said. "When ASU basically kicked him off campus, it should have sent a message to Barrow, It's time to end this crap."
Katz said he believes more than 400 dogs were killed as a result of Berens' experiments.
Patricia Haight, and ASU alumna with a degree in psychology and a member of In Defense of Animals, filed a complaint of cruelty against Beren to the Maricopa County Sheriffs Department is June. The investigation is ongoing.
The institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at ASU is in charge of overseeing all research projects involving animals. The biggest concern the committee had when they looked into Berens' research was a 95 percent failure rate. There were also concerns that healthy dogs were being killed needlessly and his operating techniques were substandard.
Berens said he agrees the success rate is lower than he wants but his methods are yielding some positive results.
"The success rate is low, it's abysmally low," Berens said. "But it's not zero. That would argue that the basic premise of the method is valid."
Dr. Ray Greek, president of Americans for Medical Advancement said all animal experimentation is a waste.
"Just because you cure cancer in an animal, doesn't mean you cure it in a human," Greek said. "The only thing animals tests do is slow down good drugs from getting to the market, and it doesn't keep bad drugs off the market."
Related Links
- Main Barrow Neurological Institute/ Michael Berens Campaign page
- What You Can Do
- The Non-Protection of Laboratory Animals
- U.S. Government Defends Beagle Research
- Beagle Research Protested
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