Investigators from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals leveled the charges against UNC last week based on the findings of an undercover PETA investigator.
Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and graduate studies, said the meetings, which took place in the Washington, D.C., area, were open discussions with Nelson Garnett, director of the Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, and other NIH officials about investigation strategies. The NIH awards grants to universities to pursue research.
"We wanted to be sure to let them know that we have a concrete plan to address all allegations and that we have a strong commitment to a high-quality of care for lab animals," Waldrop said.
The meetings came almost a week after PETA released video footage showing alleged severe mistreatment of lab animals by UNC researchers on campus. PETA investigator Kate Turlington, hired in October as a UNC lab researcher, used a hidden camera to videotape the conduct of other research lab workers.
Lester Kwock, chairman of UNC's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, also took part in Tuesday's meetings and described them as productive. "We wanted to let the NIH know how we are moving on the situation, and we also wanted to find out from them if we are handling it appropriately," he said.
Kwock said initial investigation planning began last Thursday after officials acknowledged PETA's accusations at an afternoon press conference.
He said that every allegation issued on PETA's Web site and in the undercover video was broken down and that five subcommittees of IACUC were formed to investigate several separate allegations.
Along with the formation of the committees, Kwock said that one individual was suspended immediately and that there is a "gray area" involved with other workers in the lab.
"The worker suspended admitted to us that what he did on the (PETA) tape were not IACUC policies, so he was suspended because he was clearly guilty," he said.
