Animal-rights group issues complaint against UI in death of 4 lab mice
May 14—CHAMPAIGN — An animal-advocacy group has issued a complaint against the University of Illinois that argues one of its investigators should no longer be allowed to work with animals after a federally funded experiment involved the death of four mice without prior approval.
Michael Budkie, executive director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now, a nonprofit that aims to eliminate the use of animal subjects in science experiments, lodged the complaint late last month, citing a January 2023 internal letter to the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Ryan Dilger, chair of the UI's Department of Animal Sciences, stated in the letter that UI's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee became aware in October 2022 of an "adverse event" report from animal-care staff expressing welfare concerns about four lab mice found dead or needing to be euthanized.
The mice had been fed the hormone Tamoxifen in order to study gene silencing within cardiac tissues, and the lead investigator later confirmed that they were "allowing mice to die intentionally for purposes of generating survival curves."
However, the protocol the UI's animal-care committee approved for the experiment had not included death of the mice subjects as a potential outcome. As a result, Dilger requested that all experimental procedures stop immediately "so corrective action could be taken."
UI spokeswoman Robin Kaler, confirmed that Dilger wrote the letter and that the animal-care committee became aware of the four dead mice.
"Subsequent review revealed that the specific outcome leading to the death of these mice was not described or approved," Kaler said. "A plan to prevent recurrence of the outcome was developed by the investigator, approved by the IACUC and shared with federal regulators."
Budkie has been involved with the animal-rights group for nearly 40 years and encountered the letter to the federal institute's Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare amid the nonprofit's routine Freedom of Information Act requests to labs across the country.
He emphasized that the protocol deviation is important because experiments that include the death of animal subjects require a higher degree of monitoring so researchers can adequately euthanize their subjects once they've collected all their relevant data.
Budkie also highlighted that if experiments are being performed apart from how their protocols are approved, that means the data those experiments generate cannot be reproduced, as peer reviewers won't know exactly what was done in the lab.
"If the data is not reproducible, then it's worthless, and that means that things like the deaths of these animals are taking place for nothing," Budkie said.
Dilger's letter concluded that the UI animal-care committee requested that the lab's lead investigator amend their experiment protocol to clarify clinical outcomes and justify death as an endpoint for the mice.
The committee considered the amendments appropriate — mice were to be observed three times a day and their cardiac health monitored — but conveyed that any research data resulting from the protocols used when the mice died could be included in any publications.
Budkie argued that the fact that the committee temporarily halted the experiment and that no data generated from its unapproved protocols can be used in publications is further evidence the lead investigator committed a serious violation.
But he faulted the UI for one decision: allowing that investigator to resume the lab and continue working with animals.
Ultimately, he characterized the investigator as "nothing more than an animal abuser masquerading as a scientist" and indicated that his group is waiting to hear from UI President Timothy Killeen before taking further steps.
"This is not an issue we intend to drop," Budkie said.
