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During the Parliamentary session, Kangwagye raised concerns over the costs associated with flying mice from Germany for research purposes.
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By Our Reporter
PARLIAMENT — Stephen Kangwagye, the Member of Parliament for Bukanga County, has posed an unusual but cost-saving idea to Dr. Monica Musenero, Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovations, on the possibility of grooming lab rats by Ugandans. Kangwagye suggested that Uganda could potentially "groom" local rats found in homes and use them for scientific research instead of spending large sums of money importing lab mice from abroad. During the Parliamentary session, Kangwagye raised concerns over the costs associated with flying mice from Germany for research purposes. He asked the minister if there was a significant scientific difference between Uganda’s local rats and the imported mice, and whether the local rodents could be trained or “programmed” for research to avoid the high costs of international imports.
"Scientifically, is there a big difference, or does it depend on the training, the programming, the way they are groomed? Do we have an opportunity where we can also groom ours [rats] here so they become mice and migrate from being rats?" Kangwagye queried. "Can’t they be tamed and become useful? Instead of using a lot of money to go to Germany, look at their rats, bring them here, feed them, and they start dying—yet we have local ones in our houses."
MP Kangwagye asked if there is an opportunity where Ugandans can also groom the lab-rats
Kangwagye's remarks sparked amusement but also highlighted a deeper issue regarding the costs associated with Uganda's scientific research programs, particularly the importation of laboratory animals.
Dr. Musenero, known for her expertise in scientific innovations, is expected to provide a detailed response on the feasibility of using local rodents for scientific research in place of imported lab mice. The proposal raises questions about whether Uganda could harness local resources to support its growing research initiatives, while also cutting down on significant expenses.
Background
In 2021, Dr. Monica Musenero defended a request for UGX 45 million to buy a pair of rats for use in COVID-19 vaccine trials. She said each rat would cost UGX 8 million because they are very rare and highly competitive on the world market. She added that the additional UGX 13 million was needed to acquire a certificate to propagate the mice in Uganda. She said they need over 200 rats.
"The highly technological breed of rats is not reared in Africa; they are a necessity, and scientists cannot work without them in the process of COVID-19 trials," Musenero told MPs. When Aisha Kabanda, Woman MP for Butambala, asked her if Ugandans couldn’t rear them, she responded that BALB/c is an albino, immunodeficient laboratory-bred strain of the house mouse, from which a number of common substrains are derived. It can only be bred in specialized laboratories in the US and China.
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