Washington
The University of California at San Francisco has agreed to pay the federal government $92,500 to settle allegations by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that it repeatedly violated federal rules for the care of animals used in laboratory research.
The university neither admitted nor denied the allegations in the settlement agreement, which was filed here last week.
The department had accused the university in August 2004 of failing to administer painkillers, lapses in cleaning holding pens, inadequate record-keeping, and other violations (The Chronicle, October 8, 2004). In all, the agency alleged 61 violations of the Animal Welfare Act that inspectors observed during six visits to the university from May 2001 to February 2003. In some cases, a single laboratory experiment spawned multiple citations.
The university responded with a statement disagreeing with many of the allegations.
In a statement released this week about the settlement, university officials said that they were committed to the highest standards for the care of research animals.
“High-quality science involving animals and high-quality animal care are inseparable,” Ara Z. Tahmassian, associate vice chancellor for research, said in the statement. Over the last five years, the university has spent nearly $100-million to build and equip new facilities for the housing and care of animals, the statement said.
The Agriculture Department has reached settlements with only a handful of universities in recent years that it accused of mishandling research animals, and San Francisco’s settlement is one of the larger ones. Most recently, the Johns Hopkins University agreed to a settlement of $25,000 (The Chronicle, August 10).
Background articles from The Chronicle:
