UCSF presented plans last week for a new state-of-the-art animal care facility to replace and slightly expand programs currently housed in two aging buildings rated as seismic hazards on the Parnassus campus.

Construction of the Parnassus Services Building also will permit the campus to provide the highest quality care to laboratory animals and to meet guidelines established by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC), Ara Tahmassian, assistant vice chancellor for research services, told those who attended a community meeting.

"AAALAC is an independent external accrediting body, which reviews animal care programs and physical housing facilities to determine whether or not an accreditation should be issued," he said. "Our existing facilities at Parnassus Heights do not meet these standards."

In recent years, federal inspectors have cited problems at UCSF’s existing 60-year-old facilities that can be corrected only with the construction of a modern building, Tahmassian added.

About 50 people attended last week’s meeting in Millberry Union – three Parnassus neighbors and about 45 people affiliated with In Defense of Animals, a Marin County-based organization opposed to all medical research involving the use of animals.

Campus planners outlined the construction schedule for the new 86,000-square-foot, five-story building, which will be located behind the UCSF Medical Center at the former site of the old utility plant. The $49.5 million building will be funded through $30.8 million in state seismic replacement funds and $18.7 million in campus funds.

The first phase of the project, scheduled to begin in January 2001, involves temporarily relocating existing functions from the buildings to be demolished, relocating utilities, removing a truck ramp, and constructing a retaining wall. Construction of the new building is expected to begin in November 2001 with completion estimated for April 2004.

Because the environmental review for the Parnassus Services Building was included in the final Environmental Impact Report prepared for UCSF’s 1996 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), the campus instead prepared an initial study to determine the appropriate level of environmental analysis and published a negative declaration for the project.

Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), a draft negative declaration is prepared when a project under consideration will have no significant environmental impact. All mitigation measures adopted by the UC Board of Regents in connection with the LRDP will be implemented as they apply to this project.

The preparation of a negative declaration does not require a formal public hearing on a project, but it is UCSF’s policy to hold community meetings for all major campus projects to hear and answer questions.

Elliot Katz, president of In Defense of Animals, expressed frustration that the meeting did not take the form of a formal public hearing.

"This whole meeting is a total disrespect to the people who came here," Katz said before walking out of the meeting.

Other opponents of animal research accused UCSF researchers of "scientific fraud," cited problems identified in the existing UCSF facilities, and urged the campus to abandon plans for the new facility.

One woman argued that scientists have no moral right to use animals in the search for medical advances that benefit humans. "The only difference (between humans and laboratory animals) is that they don’t talk," she said.

Tahmassian concluded the meeting by acknowledging a fundamental philosophical difference between medical researchers and those opposed to the use of laboratory animals.

"But, as stated repeatedly by all levels of administration, we take our responsibility towards humane care of animals seriously and will continue with our commitment towards providing the highest level of care for our animals," Tahmassian said.

Links:

Hall Explains Value of Animal Research

Source: Bill Gordon, News Services