“I was afraid”: he closes his laboratory following the comments of Doug Ford

An Ontario researcher who uses dogs in his clinical studies closes his laboratory less than a week after Prime Minister Doug Ford promised to legislate against this practice.

It scared me a lotlaunches the professor of Carleton University, Andy Adler, who closed his laboratory on campus on Friday.

Even if several of his colleagues tried to reassure him as to the fact that his research work was still non -invasive, they were not able to dissuade him. The Prime Minister of Ontario threatens to track me, I was afraidhe justifies.

Last Tuesday, Ford criticized the use of Beagles in cardiac health studies approved by scientists from the Lawson research institute and the St. Joseph’s Health Care hospital in London. He also warned Ontario scientists who use cats and dogs in research experiences he counted track them down To end these practices.

He referred to an article published earlier in August (new window) speak Investigative Journalism Bureau From the Dalla Lana public health school of the University of Toronto, which revealed that dogs had been used for years in this heart study.

Doug Ford has promised to table a bill to prohibit testing on certain animals.

The hospital St. Joseph’s Health Care announced even before Mr. Ford’s comments that he immediately stopped Any search using dogs. Neither the Hospital nor the Prime Minister’s office wanted to specify whether the province had directly ordered the cessation of heart tests.

Improved veterinary surveillance technologies

In his research laboratory, Mr. Adler tried to improve veterinarian surveillance technology so that they could better check the lungs and blood circulation of large animals during daily surgeries, allowing animals to be stable throughout the intervention.

He wanted to create a new type of adhesive electrodes that would bypass animal fur so that veterinarians do not need to shave them.

To do this, he placed standard surveillance jackets and new electrodes on assistance animals working at university to compare their efficiency. He carried out exactly the same type of tests on horses, as well as similar work on dolphins and sea lions.

My work at Carleton University is quite non -invasivehe said, adding that he had already carried out more invasive tests outside the university, which implied the euthanasia of dogs.

Doug Ford’s comments still concerned him.

The Prime Minister not only said: “If you are doing something horrible, [vous serez traqués]”, but rather:” If you are doing the slightest research on cats and dogs, you will be tracked down. “It is an extremely threatening language and it is explicitly intended to aim for people like me who do very non -invasive work. […] I do not take any risk.

The Prime Minister’s office did not tell CBC if he planned to put an end to all types of research on dogs and cats, or if there could be exceptions.

The St. Joseph’s Health Care hospital is preparing a transition plan

The St. Joseph’s Health Care Hospital Center refused several requests for CBC interviews about the abolition of research involving dogs. In a statement sent to the staff and the media on Thursday, the St. Joseph’s Health Care Hospital said it was planning a plan for minimize the impact Change on his researchers and their work.

The establishment also plans to appoint a third independent party to examine its research on animals and now focuses on security inside the hospital.

In the coming weeks, we will continue to focus on the safety and safety of our staff, our doctors, our researchers, our patients, our residents and our visitorscan be read in the press release.

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

Young researchers at increased risks

The day Mr. Adler closed his laboratory, he destroyed all the documents that could identify the student-researchers who participated in his tests on dogs, thinking of their safety and their careers.

According to him, the Prime Minister’s comments may have a more harmful impact on researchers who have their master’s degree across the province.

Imagine a student who devoted four years to his doctorate and who hesitates to publish a thesis which would appoint him by name. Their enthusiasm for their work is now tempered by the threat.

The researcher now thinks of moving the tests of his project outside Ontario, and perhaps even from the country, in order to continue to develop this new technology.

Veterinarians have much less technology at their disposal than human doctors, and they are more thirsty for innovationhe concluded.

With information from Kendra Seguin from CBC