PCRM Files Lawsuit to Obtain Secret Footage

PCRM filed a lawsuit against Ohio State University on April 7 seeking the release of video footage and other materials related to the school’s controversial Spinal Cord Injury Techniques Course. PCRM filed the suit in Ohio Supreme Court under the Ohio Public Records Act after making multiple requests for photographs, audiotapes, and video footage demonstrating techniques used in the class.

The OSU course, also known as “Cruelty 101,” requires students to surgically expose the spinal cords of mice and rats and drop heavy weights on them to try and imitate human spinal cord injuries.

Over the three-week course, hundreds of mice and rats undergo this traumatic injury and are then subjected to additional invasive procedures before finally being killed.

PCRM’s research team argues that more refined—and humane—teaching techniques are readily available. Research on human neural cell lines, impact studies on cadavers, advanced imaging and electrophysiological techniques, and a host of clinical trials should replace animal experiments.

The National Institutes of Health recently announced that it would investigate PCRM’s complaints that the OSU course violates federal animal welfare regulations. The agency helps fund the course.

For more information, please contact campaign coordinator Kristie Stoick, M.P.H., at 202-686-2210, ext. 335, or kstoick@pcrm.org.

PCRM Online, April 2005

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