Image by Samuel F. Johanns from Pixabay

In 2019, the ADAV Society uncovered evidence that UBC professor Dr. Aziz Ghahary, director of the BC Professional Fire Fighters Wound Healing Research Laboratory was conducting cruel experiments on rabbits and mice.  Dr. Ghahary and his team’s research involved using a tool to punch holes into the ears of rabbits and the backs of mice.  The wounds were then subjected to various test substances or deliberately infected with bacteria.  The animals were left to suffer with their wounds for up to 35 daysbefore being killed.

Please note that as a UBC professor, Dr. Ghahary would have received UBC’s approval for these severely painful procedures.

We pointed out that numerous examples in the wound healing literature show that data gleaned from animal experimentation were misleading and in fact delayed advancements in human patients  In today’s world, where superior alternatives exist, animal experimentation is a crude relic of the past.

The BC Professional Fire Fighters’ Burn Fund denied any involvement with this kind of research at their lab, let alone directly funding it through the public’s generous donations. We received a lawyer’s letter to that effect. 

When we presented their director with our evidence, we received no further communication from them.  A peaceful demonstration outside their head office led to a commitment from a new director to learn more about the issue, but again our repeated requests for communication were ignored.

Now the CBC and the Investigative Journalism Foundation have uncovered the results of Dr. Ghahary’s later human trials, finding a case of “serious academic misconduct”  on his part.

And UBC knew all about it.

Video above from CBC

Want to know more about this issue? Click the button below to see what the Investigative Journalism Foundation & CBC Vancouver have written about it: