Animal Rights
clock | October 5, 2008Originally written on September 1, 2006, re-posted today to raise more dust ;-)
There has been a lot of commentary online about the Inside Higher Ed article about an UCLA primate researcher who quit his research due to being terrorised by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), and the follow up article about the steps UCLA and other Universities are taking to ensure the safety of their faculty and staff:
The announcement by Abrams follows an upswing in activities in which UCLA professors who work with animals have been targets. In June, the Animal Liberation Front took credit for trying to put a…
sporte | August 7, 2008"Did you know," my friend whispered, "that the Humane Society funds terrorists?"
I was stunned. What? That's crazy! I've adopted pets from there. No way! How could those be the same people??
My friend and I were suffering from "brand confusion." In business, this happens when different companies use similar names for their products in order to confuse the marketplace. In the animal rights movement, brand confusion is used to misdirect the funds that would otherwise help groups who do genuine humanitarian work.
As I learned in "The Animal Research War" by P. Micheal Conn and James Parker…
scientificactivist | July 8, 2008Earlier today, I posted a review of The Animal Research War, which details the lengths that animal rights extremists are willing to go to in order to further their cause. Coincidently, the AP yesterday published a detailed article on the rise of animal rights extremism in the US. Here's a taste:
In the hills above the University of California's Berkeley campus, nine protesters gathered in front of the home of a toxicology professor, their faces covered with scarves and hoods despite the warm spring weather.
One scrawled "killer" in chalk on the scientist's doorstep, while another hurled…
scientificactivist | July 8, 2008The Animal Research War
by P. Michael Conn and James V. Parker
Palgrave Macmillan: 2008, 224 pages.Buy now! (Amazon)
In a dark room, buried in a nondescript building somewhere in London, an orderly array of new trainees sits silently, listening intently as a senior police official delivers a security briefing. Clicking through slide after slide of photos of activists, extremists, and terrorists, the official carefully explains who each person is, what organization(s) he or she is associated with, and what level of threat that person poses. All of this would probably look like business as…
scientificactivist | May 8, 2008Tom Holder--one of the founders of Pro-Test and now the head of a new organization Speaking of Research--has a released a five-and-a-half-minute video primer on animal research. It's short, but it still manages to touch on most of the basics, so it's definitely worth a few minutes of your time:
bleimanb | April 28, 2008UPDATE: Looks like the fount of wisdom that is The Time's Online lost a thing or two in the translation. Lucky for us, informed Zooillogix reader and sometimes D&D player, Dragon's Sorrow End, has set the record straight.
The government of Switzerland has passed the most comprehensive laws in the history of pet ownership to protect the well being of social animals. In hopes of creating an "informed population," the laws cover everything from guinea pigs to rhinoceroses. Here are some of the more interesting regulations:
- Dog owners are required to become qualified in a two-part course…
scientificactivist | March 29, 2008Via Americans for Medical Progress comes news that Tom Holder of Pro-Test has started his own pro-animal research organization in the US, Speaking of Research. Here's the full press release:
The tide could be turning against animal rights activists who demonstrate on campuses around the nation. Today marks the launch of Speaking of Research (SR), a student outreach organization, which aims to rally students and faculty in support of lifesaving medical research using animals.
Speaking of Research seeks to challenge animal rights dominance of the issue by participating in talks and debates on…
scientificactivist | February 9, 2008
When I first arrived in Oxford, about two and a half years ago, I found myself face to face with a very vocal and determined animal rights movement. Thriving on misinformation and intimidation--through their visible rallies and underhanded techniques of arson, grave robbing, and constant threats--they had stalled construction on Oxford's new animal research building (a building designed to even further ensure humane conditions for research animals). And, they had effectively silenced the scientific community and the much larger portion of the population that supports animal research.
Then…
scientificactivist | February 4, 2008Pro-Test, Oxford's pro-animal research organization, will be holding its third major public demonstration this Saturday, 9 February:
09.02.08: Pro-test marching on two year anniversary
On Saturday 9th February 2008 Pro-Test will march for a third time in support of animal research. We march to:
Defend - the rights of researchers to work in peace
Celebrate - the successes of animal research in developing treatments for disease
Communicate - a better understanding about animal research to non-scientists everywhereThe rally will begin at 12 noon, Broad Street Oxford, with speeches made at Broad…
scientificactivist | November 3, 2007On October 20th, animal rights extremists acting under the banner of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) flooded the home of UCLA professor Edythe London. I don't have too much to say about this latest incident, as it's just one of a series of destructive actions associated with a movement that seems more interested in intimidation than real dialogue. Since animal rights should be and are a paramount concern to the research community, this is quite an unfortunate situation.
Below, you can compare statements from London and the ALF. Briefly, though, I wanted to point out that I've written…
scientificactivist | October 8, 2007The winners of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine were announced this morning. The prize went to Mario R. Capecchi (University of Utah), Martin J. Evans (Cardiff University), and Oliver Smithies (UNC), all for their work contributing to knockout (and knock-in) mice becoming one of the most powerful scientific tools available to biologists today. Or, in the less inspiring Nobel-speak, "for their discoveries of principles for introducing specific gene modifications in mice by the use of embryonic stem cells."
From the official press release:
This year's Nobel Laureates have made a…
clock | September 27, 2007From a reasonable concern for Animal Welfare by Lewis Carroll to the mean and stupid Animal Rightists of today.
scientificactivist | August 28, 2007Or, at least that's what I thought when I read this article from Saturday's Guardian:
Universities and medical schools have been criticised for increasing the number of animals used in research by more than 50% since 1996 while industry has reduced its procedures by 20% over the same period.
Campaigners say that a cultural inertia has meant that academics have been slow to adopt options such as tissue cultures or computer models. They argue there should be more funding to encourage researchers to find other options.
Gill Langley, director of the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research, said: "…
clock | March 27, 2007Long time ago, I mentioned here something about the Belgrade Zoo. The power of Google brought a Belgrader, Sonja, to my blog, who alerted me to the dire conditions in which the Zoo is right now and the existence of her website (made by her and her students) called Zoo SOS whose goal is to force the City government of Belgrade to move the Zoo from its present location to a better place outside town (not having to deal with the Animal Rights terrorists there, they must have placed a link to PETA by mistake - they do not know the distinction between Animal Rights and Animal Welfare. Update:…
clock | January 29, 2007As a follow-up on the whole PETA brouhaha, my astute commenter oneproudaardvark notices that the SOTU-farce ad campaign by PETA is strangely coinciding with the beginning of the trial against PETA for butchering dogs in the back of the truck here in North Carolina. Cosmic synchronicity? Don't think so....
clock | January 27, 2007.. when someone rips PETA a new one...
Added later: Jill and Chris have more (and watch all those disccussions in the comment threads on all three posts!).
Added even later: Archy has a great analysis of this.
clock | December 18, 2006Just How Useful Are Animal Studies To Human Health?:
Animal studies are of limited usefulness to human health because they are of poor quality and their results often conflict with human trials, argue researchers in a study online in the British Medical Journal.
Before clinical trials are carried out, the safety and effectiveness of new drugs are usually tested in animal models. Some believe, however, that the results from animal trials are not applicable to humans because of biological differences between the species.
So researchers compared treatment effects in animal models with human…
clock | December 2, 2006Dave explains the incident and gives some excellent background information way beyond what the media reported.
clock | October 14, 2006Composting May Be Alternative In Wake Of Horse Slaughter Bill:
The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, making its way from the U.S. House to the Senate, could leave thousands of horses with no final resting ground. Composting may be an environmentally friendly option that fits in the 'circle of life' frame of mind and may be less emotional, two area researchers said.