Freshman Jeremy Beckham issued a challenge to the U on Tuesday.

He wants to debate any U researcher who believes it is moral to experiment on the primates housed at the U.

The debate will have to wait until after Beckham takes a stand against U attorney Phyllis Vetter in front of the state Records Committee today.

Beckham, a representative for the Utah Primate Freedom Project, plans to show proof to the committee that the U's Animal Resource Center has not provided him with requested documents detailing the animal experimentation.

While Beckham says the documents are public records, U spokesman Coralie Alder claims they "should be kept confidential until such time as the research results are published."

Alder said that maintaining confidentiality "also protects the U's intellectual property rights in discoveries generated by the research."

Under the Utah Government Records Access and Management Act, Beckham-like any citizen-is entitled to view any public records. By law, an expedited request must be fulfilled within 10 business days.

According to Beckham, who has been filing requests since August of 2003, the U has not complied, instead sending him only portions of the information.

In the case of protocol information, which details the experiments and the effects on the animals, Beckham said "they didn't comply at all." The committee will decide Thursday who has rights to the documents.

From the records he did receive, Beckham concluded that many of the primates are isolated-housed in individual cages-which often leads to depression in the animals. "I know for a fact that some of the Macaque monkeys have self-mutilated to the point of missing fingers and toes," he said.

Although Beckham said his main goal is to "get both sides presented" in a debate setting, so far he's had no takers. In fact, all he has to show are files of paperwork documenting his communication with the U, most of which deny his requests.

Even if a debate is scheduled, he said, "I don't think there's any other conclusion except to realize primate experimentation is immoral."

Beckham is concerned with two researchers in particular, Richard Siegler and Audie Leventhal.

Leventhal summarizes his work on his Web site, saying he studies "the structure, function and development of the visual pathways in normal cats and monkeys..."

Beckham is concerned with the way in which the studies are conducted, and without protocol documents, he said he cannot be sure of how the animals are treated.

Leventhal and the Department of Animal Resources did not return phone calls. Although U procedures have not been made clear, often in this type of research, the monkeys' heads are attached to restraining chairs with bolts fastened to their heads, according to protocol documents from the University of California at San Francisco.

In an experiment conducted at UCSF, scientists restrain monkeys in "a plastic box that we call a primate chair" with the head of the animal "restricted from moving by fixing the implanted hardware to the ceiling of the chair."

The summary of the experiment can be found online at crisp.cit.nih.gov along with the summary of Leventhal's experiment, showing that both propose similar research outlines.

Alder said, "At the U, all research is done under the review of numerous federal and local agencies, such as the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, the USDA, National Institutes of Health, and Utah's Department of Health."

Still, without the records, concerned citizens like Beckham can't be sure of what is taking place.

"We do not know the details of animal care related to their experimental procedures," Beckham said.

Records show that the U experiments on primates-baboons, macaques and marmosets-as young as six months old. The oldest animal in the U's care was born in 1970.

Beckham himself is an aspiring biologist. When asked what he would do when faced with animal experimentation in his own research, Beckham said, "If it came down that I absolutely had to do it, I'd switch my major."