A group trying to stop an Ohio State researcher’s experiments on cats alleges the National Institute of Health is illegally withholding public information.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is suing NIH for concealing details about a study being conducted by Michael Podell, an OSU associate professor of veterinary medicine.
“We suspect they are concealing details about what is done to the cats – dosage amounts of the FIV, dosage amounts of the methamphetamine and the procedure for collecting brain tissue,” said Mindy Kurshban, general attorney for PCRM.
NIH is funding Podell’s five-year, $1.68 million study.
“NIH has only released information that Dr. Podell has given them the right to release. We are challenging that process because of the Freedom of Information Act,” Kurshban said.
Podell’s study examines the effects of methamphetamine on cats infected with feline immunodeficiency virus, the feline version of HIV.
“Ultimately, we would like the research stopped. Their reason for refusing is a business information exemption under the statute,” Kursban said. “This is not the proper basis for withholding information because Dr. Podell is a non-commercial scientist working for a public institution being funded fully by the federal government.”
PCRM is a non-profit organization with a mission to promote stronger ethical standards in medicine, said Nicole Cardello, PCRM staff scientist.
“We feel Podell’s research is particularly hard on cats. Releasing the information would give us the ability to properly analyze the study and see if Dr. Podell is complying with animal ethics acts,” Cardello said.
Animal rights groups have been protesting Podell’s research since the study was approved by NIH in October 2000.
“We firmly believe that Podell’s research on cats would not advance the understanding of HIV in humans,” Cardello said.
“We don’t know how his research got approved in the first place. FIV is very different from HIV and cats have different neurological systems than humans,” Cardello said. “The research is not applicable to the human condition.”
The proposal for Podell’s study claims methamphetamine induces similar reactions in the cat and human and FIV and HIV have structural and biochemical similarities.
“All research grants at the NIH undergo a rigorous scientific review process in which expert scientists convene to discuss the merits of each research application,” Podell said. “Grant recipients must prove that the proposed science is worthy of support based on the merit of the proposed work and the scientists involved.”
NIH could not comment because of pending litigation.
