Uniken

Creator
University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit
Call Number
Nf 378.944 UNI
Created/Published
Kensington, N.S.W. : University of New South Wales, [1975]-2015
Issue
1997, no. 18 (24 Oct., 1997)
Images
12
View Catalogue

Text

uni ken  

THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES  

No. 439 (No. 18 of 1997)  

Fortnightly  

24 October 1997  

• Cook’s  

books  

PAGE  

• Hyperthermia and  

birth defects  

PAGE  

• Moods: make them  

work for you  

PAGE  

Animal review  

threat to research  

Marea Donnelly  

Australia is in danger of decline in  

crucial areas of medical research if  

the State Government moves to  

stop the use of pound animals for research.  

This is the warning sounded by UNSW  

physiology researchers Professor Mark  

Rowe and Associate Professor Michael  

Perry in evidence to NSW Government  

working party now reviewing the use of  

pound animals in research.  

The review is considered serious threat to  

the future of cardio-vascular and neurologi-  

cal research in NSW, which largely  

depends on the availability of unwanted  

pound dogs and cats.  

Established by NSW’s Agriculture Minister,  

Mr Richard Amery, the review committee  

was considered somewhat unbalanced in  

that it had no representation of the univer-  

sities, hospitals or medical research  

institutes, according to the UNSW profes-  

sors.  

Professor Rowe and Professor Perry, both  

from UNSW’s School of Physiology and  

Pharmacology, were among several UNSW  

academics who presented evidence to the  

review committee in mid-October.  

At stake is the use in medical research of  

some 250 cats and similar number of  

dogs out of an estimated 40,000 to 50,000  

unwanted animals of each species killed  

through NSW pounds every year.  

Cats play key role in neurological re-  

search, particularly in discovering how the  

brain processes sensory and perceptual in-  

formation, while dogs are used in  

cardio-vascular research, including experi-  

ments on hypertension and transplant and  

bypass surgery.  

Professor Rowe said that in almost every  

case the animals were heavily anaesthe-  

tised and remained unconscious  

throughout the experiments. They are put  

down with an overdose of anaesthetic  

when experiments are completed.  

“The experience for the animal is no differ-  

ent to what it would have been had it  

remained in the pound,” he said.  

“If there’s an animal welfare issue here,  

then it relates to the negligence of pet own-  

ers which necessitates this number of  

animals being destroyed each year.”  

Although the review committee is yet to  

make any recommendations, Professor Rowe  

said it had already influenced some councils  

to stop providing pound animals until after  

the Government reaches decision.  

“If the supply of pound animals for re-  

search is terminated, then the alternative is  

for research institutions to start breeding  

their own animals specifically for research  

purposes,” he said.  

“The irony of this is that the total number  

of cats and dogs being killed will increase.  

“So decision of tliis sort makes no sense on  

animal welfare grounds and it makes no sense  

on economic grounds, as the cost of medical  

research will increase if additional research  

money is spent on breeding animals.”  

Professor Rowe said breeding animals for  

research was an inefficient use of research  

funding, particularly when Australia al-  

ready provided less money for medical  

research than many other advanced west-  

ern nations.  

He said pound animals were readily avail-  

able for research in many other countries,  

while in Great Britain, ban on the use of  

pound animals in medical research several  

years ago had caused severe repercussions  

for the standard of medical research carried  

out.  

“The UK is no longer regarded as sub-  

stantial force in some areas of medical  

research,” Professor Rowe said. “For exam-  

ple, organ transplant procedures for  

prolonging the life of human patients have  

not developed as they have in Australia  

because of the limited animal-based re-  

search undertaken, usually on dogs.  

“This means health care for British patients  

has suffered.  

“And Australian-trained vets, who have  

access to live animals during their studies,  

are snapped up in Britain.  

“It is regrettable that the first live animal  

British veterinarian gets to work on is  

somebody’s pet because they haven’t been  

able to work on anaesthetised pound ani-  

mals in the course of their studies.”  

Along with UNSW, the University of Syd-  

ney, the University of Newcastle and some  

medical research institutes in the State rely  

on unwanted pound animals for use in  

medical research.  

“The support provided in recent years by  

state governments for medical research in  

NSW has brought Sydney to position of  

Continued on page  

Doctoral delight  

Health authorities assist with disease outbreak  

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor John  

Niland, is confident the University has  

taken all necessary precautions to avoid  

any spread of meningococcal disease after  

three students were initially diagnosed  

with the complaint in August.  

In statement to the University community  

on 17 October, Professor Niland said sev-  

eral of the cases of meningococcal disease  

that have occurred in the Sydney region  

have been associated with residential col-  

leges at UNSW.  

“I am confident that the University has  

taken all necessary precautions to avoid  

any spread of meningococcal disease in  

The Kensington Colleges, with the inocula-  

tion of about 450 resident students and  

staff,” the Vice-Chancellor said.  

His statement, broadcast over UNSW’s  

Campus Wide Network, continued: “The  

University has also been in contact with  

other residential colleges at UNSW and  

elsewhere and has provided advice and  

counselling to those who have been in  

close contact with students diagnosed with  

the disease.  

■ t.  

In August, three students from The Ken-  

smgton Colleges were diagnosed with the  

meningococcal disease, but recovered  

UIC >7  

“At that time the Colleges, with the support  

of the NSW Department of Health, took ex-  

traordinary precautions to inhibit the  

spread of the disease. These included an  

education campaign for residents, major  

changes to dining hall arrangements and  

the cancellation of the Baxter Ball. Stu-  

dents and staff in the Colleges have been  

kept fully informed and have been advised  

to be aware of the meningococcal symp-  

toms, which include fever, rash with  

visible blood points beneath the skin, head-  

ache and neck stiffness,  

“The disease is spread by mouth kissing,  

sharing food or drink, or coughing, and is  

known to be spread most rapidly in resi-  

dential commu nities, such as colleges and  

barracks For reason £md as recau  

tionary measure, the Health Department  

instigated the vaccination program for stu-  

dents and staff in the colleges. The  

department’s strong advice is that there is  

no reason to extend the vaccination pro-  

gram to the rest of the University,  

Continued on page  

Michael Briers, Senior Lecturer in the School of Accounting, received PhD in  

Accounting and warm congratulations from his partner, Tracy, at the Faculty of  

Commerce and Economics conferring of awards on 10 October. Dr Briers’ thesis  

was on translating activity-based costing: micro-study of accounting change.  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254146594

APA citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. (1975). Uniken Retrieved July 26, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254146594

MLA citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit and University of New South Wales, issuing body. Uniken Kensington, N.S.W: University of New South Wales, 1975. Web. 26 July 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254146594>

Harvard/Australian citation

University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit & University of New South Wales, issuing body. 1975, Uniken University of New South Wales, Kensington, N.S.W viewed 26 July 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254146594

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  | author1=University of New South Wales. Public Affairs Unit.
  | author2=University of New South Wales, issuing body.
  | title=Uniken.
  | year=1975
  | section=volumes : illustrations ; 30-43 cm.
  | issn=0312-7877
  | issue=1997, no. 18 (24 Oct., 1997)
  | location=Kensington, N.S.W
  | publisher=University of New South Wales
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-254146594
  | id=nla.obj-254146594
  | access-date=26 July 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

Citations are automatically generated and may require some modification to conform to exact standards.

Download

Select the images you want to download, or the whole document.

Available formats
TIF high resolution
Include
All
Current

Or select a range of images:

Selected: 1 - 12 (12 Images)

Order

You can order a copy of this work from Copies Direct.

Copies Direct supplies reproductions of collection material for a fee. This service is offered by the National Library of Australia

Include

Or select a range of images:

1 - 12 (12 Images)

Share

Share on Twitter

Share on Facebook

What can I do with this?

Copyright varies by issue and article

Reason for copyright status
Serials have an open range of dates.

Copyright varies with each issue and article. You may have full rights to copy, or may be able to copy only under some circumstances, for example a portion for research or study. Order a copy where circumstances allow or Contact us for further information.

Copyright status was determined using the following information:

Material type
Literary, dramatic or musical work

Copyright status may not be correct if data in the record is incomplete or inaccurate. Other access conditions may also apply.

For more information please see: Copyright in library collections.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Article
Share Close

Copy and paste one of these options to share this book elsewhere.

NOTE: We've tested EMBED on blogspot.com blogs as well as self-hosted Wordpress blogs. This feature will NOT work on wordpress.com blogs.

About this book Close