In April 2006 The Portsmouth News exposed QinetiQ’s cruel and unnecessary experiments on live goats. They ran a huge story about the tests, and Mike Hancock M.P spoke out publicly about how unnecessary the testing is. He told the News that he had been on the testing site and seen the goats for himself, he described what is going on as ‘horrendous’. He also said that a lot of the testing is merely duplication of what has been done before.
THE TESTS
The experiments involve subjecting the animals to extreme pressure, and depressurised environments to simulate a deep sea catastrophe. They are designed to study Decompression Sickness (DCS, or “the bends”).
Every year, several dozen goats are put into a decompression chamber (see pic on right). They are then subjected to extreme levels of pressure, and de-pressurised environments. Some experiments involve forcing the animals to inhale different gasses to see how these effect the DCS, others simply involve dissecting the animals and seeing how they have been effected. All of the animals are killed, either as a result of the gruelling repeat experiments, or afterwards, when their bodies are dissected and analysed.
USELESS RESULTS
QinetiQ are quick to claim that their vital research into deep sea escape has been vital to help human submariners. One example they publicly cite is the Kursk, a Russian submarine which sunk in 2000. Despite their ‘useful’ advice, all 118 crew members tragically died. Another example that they hold up is that of the Chicoutimi, a Canadian submarine, which suffered an explosion in 2004. In this example, QinetiQ did provide useful advice, but not from their animal data. The advice they gave was how best to tow a disabled submarine.
RESEARCH PAPERS
SARC have read research papers published by QinetiQ, and they strongly confirm what we already knew. These tests are a huge waste of money, resources and lives. Here is an excerpt from one such paper:
“Thirty goats were exposed to various dive profiles over a period of 5 years, with 17 experiencing decompression sickness (DCS). The animals were then culled and grossly examined, with the brain and spinal cord sent for neuropathological examination. No significant correlation was found between age, years diving, DCS or exposure to pressure with MR-detectable lesions in the brain, or with neuropathological lesions in the brain or spinal cord. However, spinal scarring was noted in 3 animals that had suffered from spinal DCS.”
SLOPPY SCIENCE
What this basically means is that for five years, 30 goats were subjected to cruel tests, at a cost of thousands of pounds. At the end of the experiment, “no significant correlation was found”. The tests were useless.
Also during these tests one in 12 goats subjected to the tests had brain damage, compared to one in three control goats (who were not tested on).
It is amazing that QinetiQ carry out cutting edge technology based research for most of their tests, and yet in this one instance they are clinging on to an outdated practice, which is clearly not delivering the results they need.
ALTERNATIVES
We have had it confirmed from the French Navy, that they have stopped using animals in their hyperbaric experiments, instead relying on computer models, and safe human trials. We urge QinetiQ to follow suit, and to hand the remaining goats over to SARC, or any other suitable organisation.
QinetiQ claim they still need to continue their animal tests because even after 50 years they still do not have enough data!