Chancellor Gordon Gee
211 Kirkland Hall; Nashville, TN 37240
ph: 615-322-1813; fax: 615-322-6060; email:
COPY:
Jeffrey Schall
004 Wilson Hall, 111 21st Ave. S.; Nashville, TN 37203-0009
ph: 615-322-0868; fax: 615-343-5027; email:
Dear Chancellor Gee,
As a concerned citizen who advocates viable medical research, I respectfully ask you to "do the right thing" in the case of technician Jeffrey Schall’s futile experimentation upon fully alert primates for the Vanderbilt University Research Department.
I am appalled to read testimony from fellow technicians and veterinarian Maggie Tighe that describes brain surgeries performed on monkeys without general anesthesia. For this federally subsidized research, Schall severs off the tops of monkeys’ skulls to inset wires and posts and affix metal coils to their eyes. This is not only inhumane, but also a grand waste of the approximate $1.5 million taxpayer dollars annually awarded for Schall’s experiments.
Science derived from severely distressed monkeys does not result in accurate and predictive extrapolation to humans. At best, lab variables such as pain and injury, confinement, loneliness and repeated handling generate misleading data. Recent findings published in Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science show researchers are unable to separate the effects of stress hormones from the drug or disease under analysis.
I respectfully ask for Schall’s prompt suspension, followed by a comprehensive review of his treatment of laboratory animals. I strongly encourage Mr. Schall to cease all animal experimentation.
In 2004, Schall acquired a one-month suspension after he conducted unauthorized surgery on a monkey, withheld fluids from animals, and neglected to sanitize a primate restraint chair smeared in feces. That same year, Schall allegedly intimidated a whistleblower who tried to inform the university veterinarian about an animal’s collar caught in the bars of a cage. Government records in 2005 show the university cited for 13 separate trespasses of the federal Animal Welfare Act, with Jeffrey D. Schall listed as a recurrent offender.
Vanderbilt University risks further embarrassment and legal repercussions if it continues to violate animal welfare laws. Please implement a rigorous investigation of animal abuse within university laboratories and permanently remove Schall from your staff. If charged with animal cruelty, Schall ought to be prosecuted to the full extent allowed by law.
In addition, I urge Vanderbilt University to reevaluate its research protocol. Many research scientists now view the physiological, cellular, genetic and psychological variations between species as too significant to draw inferences relevant to human health.
As a result, expedient non-animals systems are rapidly replacing old-fashioned animal studies. Options range from in vitro cell and tissue culture models and genetic/protein analysis to epidemiology, videos and mathematical modeling, virtual organs and 3-D models, autopsy/biopsy studies, advanced MRI imaging, and a multitude of other non-animal tools.
Thank you in advance for addressing my concerns. I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely