WASHINGTON — This story was originally published on MyNorthwest.com
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a federal complaint last week against the University of Washington (UW) regarding its animal welfare board, which the university has since refuted.
PETA claimed UW’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) is filled with industry insiders, and, between 2020 and 2025, decided on roughly 1,500 animal experiments without valid authority.
“After years of ultimately successful court battles to obtain the names of all individuals appointed to the federally required animal experiment oversight committee at the University of Washington (UW), PETA has found that the panel was stacked with industry insiders — showing brazen contempt for federal law and Public Health Service requirements,” PETA wrote in a news release last week.
UW has since denied these allegations.
“We assert that the allegation is not true and that our IACUC is properly constituted, and our regulatory agencies — the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW) — have confirmed this,” a UW spokesperson wrote in an email to MyNorthwest.
PETA alleges IACUC members have a goal of promoting animal experiments
PETA’s complaint stated members of the IACUC are involved with the Northwest Association for Biomedical Research (NWABR), claiming its goal is to promote biomedical sciences, including experimentation on animals.
“The people UW designated as ‘non-scientists’ are longtime boosters of animal experimentation, which is not remotely what was intended by federal law, regulations, and the Public Health Service Policy on Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals,” PETA wrote to MyNorthwest. “The latter instructs that a non-scientist be someone outside the scientific and animal experimentation community — someone with a naïve attitude with regard to science — and the nonaffiliated member should represent the general public, not UW and not the biomedical industry. UW instead appointed individuals deeply embedded in an industry advocacy group whose mission is to promote animal experimentation. That alone disqualifies them.”
UW combats PETA claims, saying description of IACUC is ‘incorrect’
UW responded that PETA’s description of the IACUC and its members is “incorrect.”
“The committee includes veterinarians, scientists, administrators, and community representatives who ensure ethical justification, humane care, and compliance with all federal requirements. None are appointed to promote animal experimentation,” a UW spokesperson wrote. “UW’s IACUC operates with openness, ethical oversight, and accountability guided by the principles of Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement (the 3Rs) and New Approach Methodologies (NAMs).”
When asked if UW being a platinum member of the NWABR was a conflict of interest, the university responded, “NWABR membership is not relevant to IACUC composition. Federal regulations allow participation in professional or educational organizations and do not consider this a conflict of interest. A non-scientist member may be a UW employee and is not required to be unaffiliated.”
Role of non-scientists on UW’s animal welfare committee
UW stated that the specific board members named by PETA do not have scientific training but bring expertise in finance, law, and organizational development to the IACUC. UW added that the members fulfill Public Health Service (PHS) policy to bring diverse perspectives, and do not directly oversee experiments.
“Non-scientist members do not directly oversee research experiments or involve themselves in the scientific conduct of the studies. Instead, they act as full, voting members who participate in reviewing all proposed and ongoing animal research protocols,” a UW spokesperson wrote. “Their involvement ensures that the committee’s decisions are not solely driven by scientific considerations but also incorporate ethical, legal, and societal viewpoints.”
PETA is asking the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to recover all federal funds awarded during 2020 to 2025, terminate all affected grants, retract published papers associated with those grants, suspend or debar the institutional officials involved, and impose civil penalties on the university and committee members who participated.
PETA has repeatedly challenged UW over its practices and ethics regarding animal research. In 2023, PETA called for the shutdown of the federally funded Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC) — housed within UW — due to past transgressions of violating the “most basic animal protection laws.”
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