UW-Madison and the U.S. Navy have ended a controversial study involving sheep and oxygen decompression.
Earlier this week, animal activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals put out a statement saying its protests had pushed the Navy to nix the partnership with UW-Madison. But it was lack of funding that prompted the university and the Navy to jointly agree to end the experiments. The study, which involved putting sheep in hyperbaric chambers simulating ocean depths, examined how the oxygen in their blood reacted to the reduction of atmospheric pressure, a condition commonly called “the bends.”
The goal of the study was to determine safe ways to rescue Navy personnel who could be trapped in submarines deep in the ocean.
