Mounting complaints ensue over cat experiments

Washington, D.C.-

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) filed three separate complaints over a controversial cat experiment in progress at The Ohio State University.

On Feb. 21, PCRM President Neal Barnard, M.D., testified at a National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse meeting about the faulty approval process endorsing the cat study, while criticizing how the project may undermine future animal experiments.

The highly-contested experiments involve dosing live cats with methamphetamine and then infecting them with immunodeficiency virus. Michael Podell, DVM, is conducting the experiment with a goal of creating an "animal model" that displays the brain damage known to occur in humans who are drug abusers and infected with AIDS. The cats are being subjected to several controversial procedures such as spinal taps before they are killed for examination.

PCRM's intent is to expose the scientific faults of Podell's study. The organization had filed a lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health last December for concealing data about Podell's work that should be public.

Its new set of complaints focus on Podell's failure to search for alternatives to the use of animals, as required by federal law. They seek to immediately suspend his work, pending an investigaation.