Not Even an Aspirin: PETA Urges an End to Studies With Unrelieved Pain at Florida State University

For Immediate Release:
April 3, 2024

Contact:
Tasgola Bruner 202-483-7382

Tallahassee, Fla. –

PETA is urging the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to stop bankrolling the worst of the worst experiments on animals—known as “Column E” tests—which cause ongoing pain without any relief and that include experiments conducted at Florida State University (FSU).

In a letter sent today, PETA points to two separate Column E tests on 689 voles that were conducted at FSU. In one, experimenters dropped voles into an inescapable container of water to induce panic and force them to swim for their lives, supposedly to study human depression and stress. In the other, experimenters stuffed voles inside narrow PVC pipes for up to an hour in order to deliberately cause them stress and anxiety before subjecting them to behavioral tests.

Voles used in a laboratory, for illustrative purposes only. Credit: PETA

“All experiments on animals are cruel and unethical, but experiments that cause prolonged agony without pain relief must end immediately,” says PETA Vice President Dr. Alka Chandna. “PETA is calling on NIH to stop funding torture and switch to modern, human-relevant research methods.”

Experimenters have cited “expediency” and “cost reduction” as reasons to withhold pain relief from animals. Other experimenters operate under the misguided belief that providing pain relief would somehow interfere with the tests, despite the well-documented fact that pain and distress compromise results. In 2022 alone, more than 90,000 animals in the U.S.—including monkeys, cats, and rabbits—were subjected to Column E experiments.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.