PETA Goes to Court to Unmask Secretive Animal Experiment Committees

PETA is suing the University of Massachusetts–Amherst and the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School for refusing to release information about the people who sit on their Institutional Animal Care and Use committees. These committees review and approve experiments on animals and are federally mandated. PETA argues that because these schools are publicly funded, the public has a right to know the committee members' names, decisions, and legal constitution, as well as meeting records showing how experiments on animals are discussed and approved.

PETA has a history of fighting for transparency regarding animal care committees, winning a previous lawsuit against UMass–Amherst. The organization has also successfully forced the University of Washington to release the names of its committee members. PETA is urging supporters to take action and call on UMass Chan to stop participating in cruel and unnecessary animal experimentation, encouraging a shift to human-relevant, non-animal research methods.