Tulsa World: OSU bans tests on baboons

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OSU bans tests on baboons
The primates were to be euthanized after being exposed to anthrax in a national test project.

By SUSAN SIMPSON NewsOK.com
Published: 11/30/2009 2:30 AM
Last Modified: 11/30/2009 4:34 AM

STILLWATER — A project to test anthrax vaccines and treatment on baboons was quashed by Oklahoma State University administrators because the primates would be euthanized.

Veterinary medicine researchers were told by e-mail last month that OSU President Burns Hargis wouldn't allow the National Institutes of Health-funded project, even though an internal faculty committee had spent more than a year setting out protocol for the care and use of the primates.

Veterinary scientists say the decision was sudden and arbitrary, and now they fear the cancellation of other projects involving animal research.

OSU administrators would not comment for this story, but they released a statement through OSU spokesman Gary Shutt stating that "this research was not in the best interest of the university. The testing of lethal pathogens on primates would be a new area for OSU that is controversial and is outside our current research programs."

Click here to read the complete article at NewsOK.com.

ssimpson@opubco.com

By SUSAN SIMPSON NewsOK.com

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	Report Comment Elusive, Owasso (11/30/2009 3:59:11 AM) Thanks Madeleine, you may have just ruined the whole research program at OSU that could save many lives including yours.
	Report Comment Alan Shore, (11/30/2009 6:12:24 AM) Could a baboon coach the OSU football team past their rival opponent's 45 yard line?
	Report Comment papajohn, henryetta (11/30/2009 6:42:26 AM) I guess what T boone wants he gets or what his wife wants, but why not, don't they own the place?
	Report Comment RDUN, (11/30/2009 8:07:27 AM) This research program had gone through many levels of review and was considered important enough to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health, the most prestigious funding federal funding agency. The full article at NewsOK implies that Hargis stopped this program, without consulting faculty, under pressure from an animal rights advocate, possibly T. Boone Pickens's wife. This sad turn of events demonstrates two fatal errors by OSU: hiring a person with a limited academic background as president and admitting a major donor to the decision-making process of the university. OSU has essentially declared that it is such a poor institution that it can not afford to act like a major university. You can bet this decision will become widely known among health researchers and will dramatically affect OSU's ability to attract new research faculty. (And with all that money from Pickens, OSU still can't beat OU!)
	Report Comment mayor_maynot, Tulsa (11/30/2009 9:08:09 AM) No matter what you say no matter what you do you can't be wrong when you're right.
	Report Comment It Matters!, (11/30/2009 9:23:53 AM) Will this impact the graduation rate at OSU?
	Report Comment Royce, Tulsa (11/30/2009 11:06:11 AM) Nothing like Politically Correct medical research.
	Report Comment shortie, tulsa (11/30/2009 12:40:43 PM) this is news?
	Report Comment STOP, (11/30/2009 2:56:18 PM) Now that they have an elephant, who needs the boons???????
	Report Comment FUTURE WORLD, Tulsa (11/30/2009 8:00:19 PM) I bet many inmates would agree to be test subjects if they would knock of 90% of their sentence. I think this would be a good deal.
	Report Comment WhereIsThought, Raleigh (11/30/2009 9:03:36 PM) Since when did morally right always have to become "Politically Correct"? The jokes about football are SO FUNNY. :(
	Report Comment Four Sixteen Rigby, Tulsa (12/1/2009 8:55:30 PM) I can't wait for the T-shirts that say "T. Boone University."

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