The Hindu : When animal rights, medical research clash

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 17, 2002

National

National

When animal rights, medical research clash
By Pranab Dhal Samanta

NEW DELHI, FEB. 16. It has been about 18 months since this year's Bhatnagar Award winner, B.N. Mullick, has carried out any meaningful experiment for his research, with animal rights activists vetoing him from doing so on ethical grounds.

A neuro-science teacher in Jawaharlal Nehru University's life sciences department, Prof. Mullick is today in a dilemma. Despite being a recipient of some of the country's most prestigious science awards like the CSIR award, the National Bioscience award, and now the much acclaimed Bhatnagar award, he is unable to carry out any animal experiment.

The problem started three years ago when activists stormed his laboratory and took away the cats on which he was conducting experiments as part of his research on neurological imbalances related to sleep.

The argument being that these cats had not been obtained from a registered cat breeder.

The allegation of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) while not totally incorrect, Prof. Mullick argued, did not consider that there was no registered cat breeder in the country. Importing cats being a costly affair, he had chosen to get some kittens, bring them up in the laboratory as per international guidelines, and then conduct experiments on them.

The argument failed to make an impact and Prof. Mullick had to forego his experiments with cats and resort to using rats and mice instead. However, three years later, Prof. Mullick still cannot get his experiments cleared by the CPCSEA.

Queries are being raised on the need for such experiments. He has been asked to furnish technical details on his project to the animal rights activist on JNU's animal ethics committee and still being denied the animals. On one occasion, the activist concerned termed the research ``redundant''.

A visibly frustrated Prof. Mullick argues that he does not have to prove his credentials to a non-expert. ``I have been recognised internationally. My work has appeared in some of the most reputed journals on neuro-science in the world and various scientists have gone through my project before deciding to fund me. So, why should I be scrutinised this way by someone who is not qualified to understand the nuances of my project.''

Till sometime ago, Prof. Mullick was seen as an isolated case, but today there are hundreds of students working in laboratories of well-known institutions across the capital who claim their careers have been jeopardised by the attitude of animal rights activists. As Ashok Jaryal of AIIMS puts it: ``So many MSc, MPhil, and PhD degrees are at stake. How will these students get their degrees if they are not given rats and mice to conduct experiments.''

These scientists are of the view that there is a need to develop a common charter or a set of objective standards to remove arbitrariness. ``This way both scientists and activists would know what to expect of each other,'' adds Satyajit Rath of the National Institute of Immunology.

As of now, the scientific community is busy garnering support with forums like the Federation of Central Universities Teachers' Association which has decided to take up the matter.

But despondency seems to have already set in. As Prof. Mullick remarks: ``I don't know what to do now. Perhaps the only thing left is to go on a hunger strike or even immolate oneself.''

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