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New primate research lab draws animal rights group, grad student

Controversial experiment planned for Psychology building facility

A new primate research lab in the basement of the Psychology building is drawing criticism from graduate students and an animal rights group, primarily because of proposed testing that could involve the killing of monkeys.

The $1.3 million facility, expected to open next month, will house various psychological experiments using monkey subjects.

Rick Bogle, a representative from the animal rights group, In Defense of Animals, said a University of Arizona employee - who asked to remain anonymous for fear of jeopardizing the employee's career - contacted him last week with concerns about proposed testing in the new facility.

"(The employee was) told by administrators not to mention the new laboratory or experiments being planned," Bogle added.

He said members of the psychology department were attempting to keep facility experiments secret for fear of opposition from the public and other members of the psychology department.

"University researchers seem to recognize that if the public found out (about the lab), bells would go off," he added.

Lynn Nadel, head of the psychology department, said some members of his department were worried about the project, but most faculty members' concerns dealt with security issues.

He said a meeting was held last month for faculty members who work in the Psychology building to tell them how to deal with security issues related to the new facility.

The laboratory will feature a "freely moving monkey room"- which allows the tested primates to move around an enclosure without restraint - and a "monkey chair" that immobilizes the monkeys so experiments can be done on them.

Laboratory security may be a major concern for university officials because of the sensitive subject matter being studied.

Psychology professor Fraser Wilson will conduct the research in question when the new laboratory is finished.

Wilson's experiment will use monkey subjects to examine a common occurrence of amnesia in epileptic patients who have a portion of their brain - the medial temporal lobe - removed.

He said his primary objective will be to find a way to curb seizures in patients without causing memory loss.

According to an abstract Wilson wrote when proposing the project, "monkeys will be trained in versions of working memory tasks," and during certain times, will be put in restraints.

At no time will more than 10 or 12 monkeys be in the research facility, Nadel said.

Wilson said during portions of the experiment, which is slated to run until 2004, microelectrodes - fine wiring put in the medial temporal lobe to monitor brain activity - will also be implanted in the monkeys.

During the testing, monkeys will be allowed to move about the "free moving monkey room" while the wires are still attached.

The microelectrodes could be in the brains of the monkeys for a month at a time, Wilson said.

While the experiment does involve surgical implanting of microelectrodes, occasional restraint and the prospect of subject destruction, Wilson insisted that researchers are not out to harm the monkeys.

"We want our monkeys to perform to the best of their ability," he added.

The proposed experiment has already been performed on rats but needs to be done on monkeys because of their similar anatomical composition to humans, he said.

When the research is completed, Wilson said the monkeys could be destroyed.

"At the end of the experiments, say in six years, they may be killed," he said.

Wilson added that destruction of the primates is necessary to examine their brains.

He said the animal rights activists are protesting this experiment because they are not fully informed about what is being studied.

"It is a plan to confuse and harass and make an issue of something that is difficult (to understand)," he said. "People have no idea what kind of research is going on."

Wilson said some members of the psychology department oppose the premise of his experiment.

"Some graduate students disagree with this research," he said.

Wilson added that even with objections, he expects his research to move forward.