‘Do not take a risk’, Ontario researcher closes the lab after Prime Minister warns to stop testing on dogs

Less than a week after Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford promised scientists “who use cats and dogs in medical test studies, says a researcher established in Ottawa that he has closed his laboratory.

“It was very scary,” said Carleton University Canada Research Professor Andy Adler, who closed his project laboratory at the university on Friday.

“I spoke here with a number of people in the research ethical office and I was told that the kind of things I do is extremely non-invasive and that I don’t have to worry, but here is the Prime Minister of Ontario who threatens to detect me,” said Adler. “I was scared.”

Last Tuesday Prime Minister Doug Ford told a press conference in Windsor that it was unacceptable that canines were used in heart research approved by Lawson Research Institute in London and St. Joseph’s Health Care London.

“I have now dedicated our team to hunt someone else who is researching dogs or cats,” Ford said. “If you do this with dogs or cats, you have to stop before I catch you … … we’re going to use this legislation … you don’t go after animals.”

A day before, St. Josephs said that it would immediately end all research with dogs “after consultation with the province.” Neither the hospital nor the Prime Minister’s office answered the questions of CBC News about whether the province immediately ordered the cardiac tests to end.

Adler’s research lab worked on developing improved veterinary monitoring technology, intended to help veterinarians check the lungs and blood flow of large animals during daily operations, so that animals remain stable during the entire process.

His lab created a new type of stick-on-electrode to use in these scenarios that can reach around the fur of animals, so they don’t have to shave veterinarians.

“The dog market is large. There are many dogs and many dogs are operated on,” said Adler. “There is a great need to have improved instruments to do better care.”

Testing animals in Adler’s lab included placing typical monitoring jackets and the newly built electrodes on service animals that work at the university, allowing researchers to compare the efficacy. He has done exactly the same type of tests on horses and similar work on dolphins and sea lions, he said.

“These are very non-invasive things that we do here at Carleton,” Adler said, adding that he previously did more invasive tests outside the school in which dogs were involved with eutanization.

Yet he said that Ford’s statement as an all-inclusive happens.

“The prime minister didn’t just say:” If you do something roughly, [you will be hunted down]”But” if you do research into cats and dogs at all, you will be hunted, “said Adler.” This is a super-threatening language and is explicitly intended to cover people like me who do very non-invasive work. “

“I don’t take any risk.”

The Prime Minister’s office did not respond to the questions of CBC about whether he intends to end all types of research or dogs and cats, or whether there can be exceptions.

St. Joseph’s Create Research ‘Transition Plan’

The scientific director and vice-president of research at Lawson, Lisa Porter, left the organization last week.

St. Josephs has continued continuous interview requests from CBC News about the research of the dog tests and details about why it ended the program.

In a statement sent to staff and media on Thursday, the hospital said it “works on a transition plan to minimize the impact on our researchers and their work, which has resulted in major steps in heart care and treatment.”

The statement also said that St. Joseph’s plans to appoint an independent third party to revise its animal -based investigation and now focuses on safety in the hospital.

“In the coming weeks we will continue to concentrate on the safety and security of our staff, doctors, researchers, patients, residents and visitors,” said the explanation.

The hospital has refused to answer CBC’s questions about whether researchers or employees have been given threats and whether the hospital has adopted extra security for this reason in the past week.

Higher risks for young researchers

Adler said that on the day he had closed his lab, he destroyed all the documents that the student researchers could identify who were part of his dog tests, with both their safety and their career in mind.

“If I will be hunted for my crimes, I intend to do it alone,” he said, adding that Prime Minister’s comments can influence other researchers at master level in the province.

“Imagine a student who brought them into their doctorate for four years and is cautious to publish a thesis that would call them by name,” Adler said. “Their enthusiasm for their work is now being tempered by the threat.”

Adler said he is planning to test on his project outside ontario and possibly move outside the country to continue to develop the important new technology.

“Veterinarians have much less technology available than human doctors, and they are more hungry for innovation,” he said.