Laboratory animal breeding unit closes

By Philippa Lagan
Staff reporter

A special breeding unit at Wallaceville animal research centre is to be closed because fewer animals are being used in scientific experiments.

Centre director Alan Royal said the disease-free unit, which bred animals for testing, including cats, mice, rabbits and guinea-pigs, was about to be shut down as demand for animals had dwindled over the last few years.

The unit was built about 10 years ago, using the latest technology. The closure reflected a national drop in demand for animals for testing because scientists had discovered alternatives, including computer models.

The move could partly be attributed to animal rights campaigners who had called for scientists to find alternatives to animal experiments, Mr Royal said.

The centre would continue to operate another breeding unit which contained several hundred animals including guinea-pigs, rabts, rats and mice.

Wallaceville liaison officer John Tenquist said the closure of the pathogen-free unit was also caused by changes in work.

One of its top priorities was the testing of drenches and other drugs for sheep. Previously these tests would have been carried out on a variety of animals but now they were confined to sheep.

(Front page "Evening Post" 30/4/90)

Scientist killed by laboratory cancer

London

A verdict of misadventure was recorded yesterday at an inquest on a medical researcher who died of cancer after 12 years of injecting cancer-inducing chemicals into rats.

Michael Lewin had cancer of the colon, liver and bladder, pathologist Sebastian Lucas told the hearing at St Pancras in London.

The tumours were remarkably similar to the rather nasty cancers developed by the rats during experiments, Dr Lucas said.

Dr Lewin's colleague, Peter Cruise, with whom he was researching bowel cancer at the University College Hospital, said the drug they employed was also used as rocket fuel. "This gives you some idea just how powerful it is".

Coroner Douglas Chambers said it was inescapable that the death of Dr Lewin, 46, was caused by exposure to the powerful cancer-inducing compound used in his experiments. - NZPA-PA

(Wellington's "Dominion")