University of Washington Poised to Approve New Study by Experimenter Who Irradiated Monkey Nearly to Death

For Immediate Release:
March 19, 2025

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

PETA is opposing a University of Washington oversight committee’s expected approval on Thursday of a study by an experimenter whose disregard for approved scientific and ethical protocols led to a monkey’s euthanasia. PETA primate scientists will comment at the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) meeting.

Despite uncovering animal suffering, negligence, and protocol violations in June 2024, the IACUC convened a rare special meeting on March 13 to review Fritzie Arce-McShane’s 3-year research protocol. Arce-McShane had repeatedly irradiated a monkey without allowing the animal time to recover.

This is only the third special meeting called by IACUC in the last seven years. The previous one, in August 2024, addressed Arce-McShane’s role in causing such severe harm to a monkey that the university’s attending veterinarian ordered euthanasia.

Given the clear evidence of cruelty, the IACUC’s apparent attempt to push through this protocol in a hastily called meeting raises serious concerns about the committee’s commitment to protecting animals. Arce-McShane willfully over-irradiated the monkey, chose not to provide him with protective goggles, and misled veterinary staff. Her actions caused the monkey severe radiation toxicity, leading to swelling, discharge, and the inability to fully open his mouth.

“This is beyond unconscionable—it is a complete betrayal of the very purpose of the IACUC—which knows Arce-McShane omitted key information and caused horrific suffering, and yet they are on the verge of rewarding her with a chance to do it again,” said Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, PETA’s senior science advisor. “Arce-McShane should face felony charges for cruelty to animals, not getting a stamp of approval to continue the same conduct.”

The IACUC has no evidence that Arce-McShane will change her practices simply because she will now be subject to additional veterinary monitoring. She has a record of failing to disclose crucial information to veterinary staff, and her priority appears to be obtaining data—no matter the cost to the animals. She apparently irradiated the monkey to death because she wanted more than what was approved.

The IACUC’s actions suggest complicity in prolonging and legitimizing Arce-McShane’s unethical research. Arce-McShane “voluntarily” suspended her research in August 2024, and her original IACUC-approved protocol lapsed in January 2025. Yet, she continues to receive more than $1.2 million in taxpayer funds each year from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), with more than half a million dollars in indirect costs benefiting the university.

An adult male rhesus macaque at the Oregon National Primate Research Center sits hunched in a cold metal laboratory cage, a bulky metal collar fastened around his neck—an unyielding device that allows researchers to control his every movement. © PETA

The committee acknowledged that the revised 3-year protocol would subject macaques to a ruthless onslaught of invasive surgeries, radiation exposure, and other harsh procedures. One committee member challenged its scientific validity. During questioning, Arce-McShane acknowledged that since she arrived at UW in late 2021, her progress, “[h]onestly, . . . has been very slow… So what we have been doing a lot is data analysis of previous data collected from University of Chicago.” During the March 13 special meeting, the committee nearly approved the protocol but ultimately sent it back for minor modifications.

Over just a few months, the university received multiple critical citations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for gross violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, including denying monkeys proper pain relief after invasive surgeries; leaving 20 monkeys trapped in cages under blinding 24/7 lights for nine consecutive days; allowing two monkeys to escape their cages, leading to fights that left other trapped animals severely injured; and for Arce-McShane’s protocol violations. A newly published PETA study analyzing animal welfare violations at top universities identified UW as the second-worst offender, with a whopping 29 violations in just a two-year period.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.