Members of the animal rights group People for Ethical Treatment of Animals will file a lawsuit Tuesday against the UW System Board of Regents for not releasing documents concerning eye-movement research on monkeys and cats.
According to the lawsuit, PETA filed the suit because UW-Madison did not release videotapes and photos they wished to obtain to ensure university research projects complied with the national Animal Welfare Act.
Kathy Guillermo, PETA vice president, said in a statement that Wisconsin citizens have a right to know UW-Madison conducts ethical research. The Wisconsin Open Records law allows the public to obtain research studies.
""UW has squandered millions of taxpayer dollars to conduct these cruel and wasteful experiments, and now it apparently wants to throw away more money trying to hide what went on,"" Guillermo said. ""People have a right to know how their tax dollars are spent, especially if someone could be using the money to break the law.""
UW-Madison officials told PETA they withheld documents to provide academic freedom to researchers, the lawsuit stated.
""Any such records constitute unpublished proprietary research data,"" university officials said, according to the lawsuit.
Additional university officials could not be reached for comment as of press time.
