A Win For The Kitties

By Andrew Goldstein

Ohio State University veterinarian Michael Podell has spent the past two years infecting cats with the feline version of HIV, shooting them up with methamphetamines (commonly known as speed), cutting into their brain tissue to examine their responses and then killing and dissecting them. His goal: to explore what happens when HIV-positive humans abuse drugs. But animal-rights activists did everything they could to stop the research, and last week, when Podell announced he was quitting the project and leaving the university, they declared victory. The university says Podell had received more than a thousand protest letters and e-mails, including nearly a dozen death threats. Demonstrators sprayed graffiti on campus calling on him to STOP TORTURING CATS.

Podell's capitulation could mark an ominous turning point for the research community. Thousands of scientists use animals in their experiments (Ohio State alone used 54,000 research animals last year). Warns Frankie Trull, president of the Foundation for Biomedical Research: "Podell's decision is, we fear, just the beginning of a destructive campaign against research that is fundamental to the discovery of treatments for diseases that plague both humans and animals." The activists say it's about time. "So many of these experiments are unnecessary," says Neal Barnard, president of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. "They should be stopped." --By Andrew Goldstein