Request Comes in the Wake of New Findings That Former Vanderbilt Animal Experimenter Lied on Grant Application

For Immediate Release:
November 17, 2009

Contact:
Justin Goodman 757-622-7382

Nashville -- In September, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Research Integrity (ORI) found that Nagendra Ningaraj deliberately fabricated data from animal experiments for a federal grant application while he was at Vanderbilt University. According to ORI, Ningaraj fabricated the data to support his false claim that a hair-regrowth chemical improved the ability of a cancer drug to destroy brain tumors in mice. Ningaraj mislabeled images of mouse brains and misrepresented results from other experiments. He also presented his fraudulent data at an annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). PETA has asked AACR to issue an official retraction and is calling on ORI today to investigate and audit all taxpayer-funded animal experimentation records at Vanderbilt University.
 
"Vanderbilt has a long history of disregarding research ethics and animal welfare laws and doesn't appear to value the privilege of receiving public research funding," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "We believe that additional scrutiny of the school's research program may reveal additional malfeasance that has not yet been identified or reported."

Between 2004 and 2006, Vanderbilt was cited for 69 Animal Welfare Act violations, including an incident in which a primate's eyes were removed without approval. In another case, an experimenter performed major surgery on a macaque monkey without approval and then threatened a technician for reporting animal welfare concerns. PETA is also awaiting the results of recent investigations by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The investigations were prompted by a PETA complaint that was based on allegations by a Vanderbilt veterinary technician. Among the allegations the technician made was that a mouse was allowed to suffer for several days after the animal's eyeball popped out of its socket.

PETA's letter to ORI is available upon request. For more information, please visit StopAnimalTests.com.