A state House committee opened hearings Thursday on a possible ban on medical research using dogs in Michigan.
The bill would outlaw medical research and testing that could cause “pain or distress” in dogs. It’s aimed largely at hypertension and cardiovascular research at Wayne State University.
Ryan Merkley, director of research advocacy at the Washington D.C.-based Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine told the House Regulatory Reform Committee that experimenting on dogs is becoming a rarity at research labs across the country.
“You can see the trend and you can also clearly see that human health research can be done without causing dogs to suffer,” he said.
Former research veterinarian Sally Christopher said using live dogs for medical experiments is outdated and cruel.
“The pain and suffering by dogs at Wayne State is plain to see in the university’s own records,” she said. “What’s equally concerning is the fruitless nature of these experiments, which have not yielded benefits for human patients.”
A Wayne State University veterinary researcher told the committee that experimenting on dogs is, indeed, rare and is handled humanely.
Dr. Michael Bradley said his laboratory uses dogs in experiments on congestive heart failure and hypertension. He told the House Committee on Regulatory Reform that the National Institutes of Health funds the research because it helps save lives.
“Over the 30-plus-year history of this research at Wayne State, there have been numerous scientific advancements that have been added to the body of knowledge of cardiovascular physiology,” he said. “Contrary to recent claims, our research has produced meaningful, peer-reviewed results.”
The regulatory reform committee is chaired by Representative Joe Aragona (R-Clinton Township), who sponsored the bill. It already has wide bipartisan support, but the committee did not vote on the bill Thursday.
