In Defense of Animals, an animal rescue and advocacy organization based in Mill Valley, issued a news release on its website yesterday regarding our own UCSF. It appears that UCSF has been accused of glaring violations of the Animal Welfare Act. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has allegedly charged UCSF with 60 counts of animal welfare violations between 2001 and 2003. IDA mentions that the crux of the complaint lies with UCSF not providing "adequate research oversight and veterinary care...in accordance with federal law". Julian Guthrie, Chronicle staff Writer, reports such violations were originally reported by USDA inspectors during biannual visits to the teaching school. Ara Tahmassian, associate vice chancellor of research at UCSF responds in the same article by saying, "UCSF takes all citations from the USDA and other animal welfare agencies very seriously".