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A National Research Watchdog is releasing several previously unpublished East Tennessee State University reports where the university admits it broke federal law by performing unapproved experiments that killed dozens of animals.

ETSU laboratory staff in multiple projects performed unapproved procedures involving dozens of animal deaths, according to SAEN, an Ohio-based national watchdog that monitors the nation’s research facilities for illegal activities.

SAEN said one project now suspended also involved return of federal funding.  An experiment which purposely inflicted sepsis killed 30 animals while seven more had to be euthanized.

SAEN previously filed an administrative complaint about a suspended project exposed in an  unpublished noncompliance report that revealed ETSU staff failure to euthanize animals who were in “lateral recumbency, hypothermic, non-responsive”  (in other words, these animals had collapsed, didn’t respond, and were unable to regulate their body temperature) despite protocol requirements to do so.

The report also stated a drug solution was used for anesthesia that had been mixed three months earlier – the expired drug, according to a report, may have led to the “animals demise due to the toxic compounds produced during breakdown due to aging.”

East Tennessee State University said it imposed a serious penalty on the bungling animal abusers: “6 months (effective at the end of business on May 14, 2024) suspension of their animal use privileges.”

“It is quite clear that the ETSU administration has failed to properly enforce federal regulations,” said Michael A. Budkie, A.H.T., SAEN executive director. “It is also quite clear that ETSU researchers think that they are above the law and can perform whatever procedures they like without IACUC approval, regardless of whether the animals live or die.”

SAEN is also calling for a halt to all ETSU animal experiments to determine if further undiscovered violations exist, and firing of all staff connected to violations, and refunding of all funding, public or private, for any compromised projects.