Expansion of UC Davis Primate Lab Challenged

Animal Protection Institute
Monday, 15 October 2001

SACRAMENTO -- In comments filed today with the Office of Resource Management and Planning, the Animal Protection Institute (API) strongly opposed plans by UC Davis (UCD) to expand the California Regional Primate Research Center. API called the direct and indirect analysis of the environmental impact "legally deficient."

However, API agrees with what it calls UCD's surprisingly candid admission in its August 31, 2001 Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) that the use of non-animal alternative research techniques is "environmentally superior" to UCD's proposed action of expanding the Primate Center's research and animal breeding programs.

In dispute is UCD's fundamental premise for the expansion of the breeding facilities and testing space. In the DEIR, UCD asserts that the proposed breeding expansion will serve an increased demand for animals in research, yet contradicts itself by maintaining that animal experiments should be authorized only where all other alternatives have been exhausted. This has yet to be done. Furthermore, the DEIR offers no objective evidence to support UCD's premise that 175 additional rhesus macaques per year are actually needed for invasive research over the next 5 years.

"The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has large amounts of money available for both primate center expansion and animal-based experiments," charges Alan Berger, API's Executive Director. "Without more information, it appears that UCD's declaration of 'need' is nothing more than the University's self-serving desire to get a greater percentage of NIH's money."

API also asserts that key state and federal agencies may not have had a proper opportunity to review and comment on the project. And, the DEIR contains several ambiguities and inconsistencies, raising reasonable doubts about several of the DEIR's findings of "less-than-significant-impacts."

API requests that UCD adopt the environmentally preferred alternative of using alternative research techniques, rather than expanding regional access to animals for unnecessary, invasive testing.

For more information, or to contact Animal Protection Institute, see their website at: www.api4animals.org