LANSING, Mich. (Aug. 26, 2021) — Sen. Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia) and Sen. Paul Wojno (D-Warren) today marked National Dog Day by publicly urging Wayne State University to end the use of dogs in heart experiments conducted at the university. A bipartisan letter has also been sent from state legislators urging the university to instead focus their work on research that is human-relevant and benefits the people of Michigan.
“We need publicly funded research to benefit public health, and right now, Wayne State is not fulfilling their obligation to Michigan taxpayers to conduct ethical and effective research for the public at-large,” Sen. Polehanki said. “Heart disease is our state’s biggest killer, and Wayne State is not using their resources to spark medical advances that benefit the overall health of Michiganders. With advances in modern technology, there are alternative, effective research methods that can be done without subjecting dogs to painful and inhumane experiments.”
The senators cited more than 10,000 pages of documents obtained from Wayne State through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act by the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. The records reveal that, since 1991, the university has used dogs in heart failure and hypertension studies that involve surgically implanting devices, catheters, wires, and cables into the bodies of otherwise healthy dogs.
“As a legislator, one of our most important Constitutional duties is to allocate funds for state programs, and Wayne State is wasting taxpayer dollars on their studies while making no major medical breakthroughs with their research,” Sen. Wojno said. “The university can, and must, conduct research in a more ethical manner.”
The national Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has also published an article that said after three decades of research and $11.6 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health, there have been no major medical findings from the studies using dogs conducted at the university. As an example of human-relevant research, the legislators point to the development of a functioning human heart model by scientists at Michigan State University in 2020.
To ban this type of research, Sen. Wojno has introduced Senate Bill 582, which would prohibit public institutions from conducting experiments on dogs that fall within the two highest levels of pain or distress, as stated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
###