Published: December 18, 2009

Legislator blasts OSU decision

• State Rep.: OSU bowed to Madeleine Pickens' animal rights agenda in canceling anthrax research

Philip Jankowski
Stillwater News Press

An Oklahoma legislator openly chastised Oklahoma State University on Thursday, accusing OSU's administration of canceling research programs to curry favor with a wealthy donor and her animal rights agenda.

St. Rep. Phil Richardson, R-Minco, said the stewardship of Madeleine Pickens, wife of billionaire OSU benefactor T. Boone Pickens, led to the cancellation of a recent anthrax research program.

OSU President Burns Hargis refused to be interviewed for this article. An OSU spokesman said in a statement the university's decision had no outside influence from donors or animal rights groups.

“We fully appreciate the many benefits of animal research as long as it is consistent with the highest ethical standards in developing new treatments for animal and human diseases,” OSU spokesman Gary Shutt said in an e-mailed statement. “With that being said, we could not be any clearer — this decision was not influenced by animal rights organizations or donors.”

The anthrax research would have led to the euthanizing of baboons in a research lab. The study was designed to help create a better vaccine for the disease. The vaccine would have likely been used to inoculate U.S. troops.

“This vaccine was essentially for our troops,” Richardson said. “If some baboons are euthanized for that purpose I can tell you where I stand. It's a worthwhile endeavor.”

Administrators canceled the program suddenly and without warning in October with little explanation, an OSU virology researcher said.

Richardson said the cancellation was just the latest example of OSU administration bowing to radical animal rights groups' agendas in order to kowtow to Pickens.

OSU decided to no longer euthanize animals used in student classes for surgeries. Pickens reportedly threatened to redirect a $5 million donation to the Center for Veterinary Sciences, Richardson said.

Pickens heralded the decision in a statement posted at her wild horse advocacy Web site, www.madeleinepickens.com.

Richardson also said pressure from Pickens killed a bill he authored allowing animals euthanized at shelters to be used for educational purposes.

Controversy over Pickens' sway had led to doubts being cast over the research commitments of OSU.

The university recently has received bad press in scientific journals, Department of Veterinary Pathology Professor Richard Eberle said, and it is casting the university in a negative light.

“Fortunately it has been focused on administration and not faculty. There's a concern that OSU has made this decision to avoid animal rights extremists and this is just going to encourage that thinking,” Eberle said.

The anthrax research was to be conducted in the Center for Veterinary Health Science's Animal Biosecurity Level (ABSL) 3 laboratory. The secure lab is one of seven in the country equipped to handle volatile agents such as anthrax and ebola, Eberle said. It is one of only three similarly equipped laboratories found on a state college campus.

The anthrax program is a $14 million multi-faceted project funded by the National Institutes of Health. The project is headed by Boston University Professor Shinichiro Kurosawa.

Financial loss to OSU is relatively minimal in this case, Eberle said, but its impact could be felt in pending grant proposals.

Two grants are in the works for primate research at OSU amounting to about $2 million in funding, Eberle said.

“If the facility can't be used for primates, we lose out. Even (the University of Oklahoma) loses out,” he said.

Other universities including OU had planned on using OSU's laboratory for similar research, he said.

Testing vaccines on animals is a common practice, Veterinary Pathobiology Professor Tom Oomens said.

He is developing a vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus, a highly contagious flu-like virus most people encounter when they are infants. The virus is not particularly strong, though it can be fatal for at-risk infants such as premature babies.

He said his research only examines the virus in a controlled culture not involving animal testing, but developing a vaccine is an inevitability for most vaccines.

“Virtually anything that is ultimately approved for humans will need to have some testing on animals,” he said. “I don't think people like it, but it is necessary.”