UW-Madison earned another top 10 accolade Wednesday when it ranked No. 1 on People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals list of the top 10 worst offenders for lab animal treatment, according to a PETA statement.
University officials were not available to comment on the ranking Wednesday.
Mary Beth Sweetland, PETA director of research and investigation said they chose UW-Madison because of its various high-profile experiments involving animals, including UW-Madison professor John Webster's highly-publicized Taser experiments that used live pigs.
'We based our picks on the wastefulness of animal lives and taxpayer dollars and the amount of documented abuse,' Sweetland said.
She contends that some elements of experiments conducted in UW'Madison research labs are illegal.
In regard to UW-Madison's top status in fields of research, she characterized that standing as illegitimate as well.
'If you look at the usual criteria'how the top research facilities are ranked'it's generally by the amount of money they're getting which says nothing really about the research itself,' Sweetland said.
Sweetland cited several experiments PETA has expressed disapproval for, including the Taser experiments and primate research performed by professor Ei Terasawa-Grilley.
'If the cruelty to animal statutes applied to researchers, they'd probably all have been charged long ago, animal researchers at the UW,' Sweetland said. 'But sadly that's not the case and it is not up to PETA to enforce the law.'
