CDC Labs Killed Animals by Drowning, Hyperthermia, PETA Says

Laboratory animals were killed in accidents or euthanized after mistakes at CDC laboratories, including mishandling of a deadly bird-flu virus, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Thirteen violations over a year left a series of animals dead at the federal agency’s labs, according to the organization, who called for an investigation.

“The CDC’s lack of accountability has resulted in egregious suffering for animals and perilous working conditions for employees,” wrote Alka Chandna, PETA’s senior laboratory oversight specialist, in an Aug. 14 letter to the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The deaths were all preventable, according to the animals-right organization. They included:

• Two ferrets and 40 mice were inoculated with a virus that was later confirmed to be contaminated with a fatal bird-flu H5N1 virus. All were euthanized.

• Fifteen mice died or had to be euthanized after they were put in cages that were still hot from an autoclave, and appeared to die from hyperthermia. Five more mice died of asphyxiation after the ventilation pump to their chamber was turned off.

• A calf died of hypothermia in a barn with a malfunctioning heater.

• Two prairie dogs got stuck in an unsecured floor drain and died.

• Eleven hamsters died after their watering system stopped working.

PETA’s annual check-up of the federal labs produced similar results to last year’s FOIA document request. Those documents showed evidence of a monkey disemboweling itself after surgery, and primates dying after being infected with rabies.

The CDC did not respond to a request for comment to the allegations.

PETA pointed to some $500 million in CDC’s budget earmarked to “monitor health and ensure laboratory excellence.” The group called for an investigation – and improvements for safeguards at the labs.

“The CDC was apparently so negligent and careless that animals endured terrible deaths and human workers were put a risk of a deadly strain of bird flu,” said Justin Goodman, director of PETA’s laboratory investigations. “PETA is calling for authorities to hold the CDC accountable for its ongoing inexcusable deficiencies that cost animals their lives and endanger staff.”

The PETA report comes a month after the USDA reported a decreasing number of Animal-Welfare-Act-protected animals being used in laboratories across the nation. But PETA and other animal-rights groups contend those figures do not reflect the use of mice, rats, fish and other small animals who make up the bulk of test subjects.