Harvard doc criticized for suggesting research animals would be euthanized after funding freeze

The Harvard doctor who raised the possibility that research monkeys at the college would be euthanized as a result of the Trump administration freezing billions in federal grants is being criticized for her actions and words by a leading animal-protection group. 

The warning was issued last week by Dr. Sarah Fortune, a chairwoman at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who also said the rhesus macaque test subjects were being used in a tuberculosis study.  

On Friday, Open Philanthropy, a California-based grant adviser and funder, announced it had authorized a $500,000 grant to allow University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers to complete the tuberculosis vaccine study, after Harvard's National Institutes of Health funding for it was frozen, according to the Boston Globe. 

However, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, which says it's the world's largest animal liberation group, criticized Fortune for raising the specter of euthanizing the animals and said the monkeys could have been given to caretakers or sanctuaries.

"Harvard’s Sarah Fortune and other animal experimenters are essentially holding animals hostage to keep the public dollars flowing, claiming they will have to euthanize the animals in their laboratories if their funding is cut," the group said in a news release. 

"But these monkeys and other animals were never going to leave the laboratories alive. Experimenters are just upset they can’t torture them first before killing them."

Fortune saying the animals might be euthanized followed President Donald Trump's decision earlier this month to freeze over $2.2 billion in federal funding for Harvard, after the school said it would not comply with his demands, which include addressing antisemitism on its campus.

Fortune has reportedly been conducting tuberculosis research on primates in Pittsburgh for over a decade. Harvard reported has a $53.2 billion endowment.