“And I knew then—as I know now—that if you must hide, it’s because what you’re doing cannot withstand scrutiny.” ~ Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel
Please see the following address to the University of Washington’s (UW) Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) from PETA Senior Science Advisor Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel, a former committee member and UW faculty member, given in late August.
This moment is personal for me. Early in my tenure on the UW IACUC, two senior members—Sally and Jane—pulled me aside and made it clear: There are conversations about protocols that are not meant to take place in the public meetings. That message, delivered at the very start, set the tone. Not only would we cloak our identities behind initials, but even the discussions themselves would be curated—shielded from the public eye. The leadership drove this culture of secrecy. And I knew then—as I know now—that if you must hide, it’s because what you’re doing cannot withstand scrutiny. That is why I am in this fight. Today marks a watershed moment for accountability at the University of Washington. After losing in court yet again and knowing they would lose if they had to defend these practices, members of this IACUC are no longer concealing their identities behind opaque initials.
This is not merely a procedural victory. It is a fundamental affirmation of democratic principles: when you cloak your identity while deciding the fate of captive animals—creatures who cannot defend themselves—you are not protecting yourselves, you are protecting cruelty. And you are protecting bad science. Experiments that waste lives and taxpayer dollars, that generate unreliable results, and that stall progress on real human health solutions. Discredited symbols of secrecy, like the KKK hoods, demonstrated that hiding behind anonymity is emblematic of wrongdoing. Just as hatred thrives under the cover of darkness, so too does cruelty—and so too does the perpetuation of failed, outdated science—when hidden from transparency.
The public has an unequivocal right to know exactly who endorses painful and scientifically bankrupt experiments in their name. No more rubber stamps in the shadows. No more excuses. Transparency is not optional—it is the bare minimum. Now that your names are public, so too is your responsibility.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
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