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PETA Files Complaint Against Jackson Lab, Says Mice Are Suffering

An animal rights organization has filed a complaint against the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, claiming that mice at the research facility are being subjected to pain and suffering.

Alka Chanda of the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals says this is the first time her agency has filed a complaint with the National Institutes of Health against the Maine research facility, but Jackson has been on PETA’s radar for several years.

“The sorts of problems that we’re talking about are absence of adequate veterinarian care, ‘accidental deaths’ of mice where, for example, malfunctions and a failure to notice problems resulted in mice starving to death, or dehydrating to death, drowning to death,” she says.

Chanda says her organization had to file a complaint against the lab because of the lab’s refusal to observe minimum animal welfare guidelines.

“These are minimal guidelines and when a company like Jackson Laboratory, which posts revenues in the hundreds of millions every single year, cannot do this minimum by the animals off whose backs it makes a killing, there’s something wrong,” she says.

In a written statement, Jackson Laboratory said personnel at the lab are regularly trained in the ethical and humane treatment of mice used in biomedical research.

The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 excludes mice that are bred for research use.