U. of WI researchers face criminal charges (New Scientist)‏

NOTE: Judge Amy Smith’s opinion can be read here:
http://www.thedailypage.com/media/2010/06/02/Dane%20County%20PETA%20decision%20060210.pdf

New Scientist
US animal researchers face criminal charges
by Andy Coghlan
14 June 2010
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19040-us-animal-researchers-face-criminal-charges.html

Animal experimenters in the US, beware: you may find yourselves facing
criminal charges for simply doing your job. That's what has happened
to nine staff at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who could go to
jail or pay heavy fines for carrying out decompression experiments on
sheep for the US navy.

Some sheep died in the experiments, which aimed to find new ways to
save divers from decompression sickness, otherwise known as "the
bends". Antivivisectionists at the Alliance for Animals in Madison and
at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals discovered that
Wisconsin has a law banning the killing of animals through
decompression.

The AFA and PETA filed charges, and on 2 June circuit judge Amy Smith
backed the animal-rights groups' claim. She concluded that the
researchers "intentionally or negligently violated Wisconsin law", and
so should face criminal charges. Smith dismissed the university's
defence that the research project was exempt from the law.

The case is the first in which animal researchers have faced criminal
charges in the US since 1981. "If animal rights groups continue to
pursue the use of laws in ways they were not originally intended, I'm
concerned that universities may be forced to expend additional
resources to counteract these unwarranted legal attacks," says Frankie
Trull, president of the Foundation for Biomedical Research in
Washington DC, which defends animal experiments.

"I recommend institutions doing biomedical research educate their
in-house counsels about these animal rights strategies and be
prepared."