[ SHOWGSD-L ] Editorial in Science magazine
- From: "Ginger Cleary" <cleary1414@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Showgsd-L@Freelists. Org" <showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2006 17:12:39 -0400
Ginger Cleary, Rome, GA
Proud member GSDCA and Sawnee Mtn Kennel Club
www.rihadin.com
-----Original Message-----
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/313/5793/1541
Seen on NAIAs List, and crossposted with permission.
Editorial in Science
Posted by: "Beverly Barton" be.barton@xxxxxxxxxxx obstias
Fri Sep 15, 2006 12:52 pm (PST)
Since I subscribe to Science, I'm posting the full-text of Donald
Kennedy's editorial. He's the Editor-in-Chief, and was president of
Stanford when I was a grad student there. I've asked for permission to
post.
Beverly in NJ
Editorial- Science, September 15. 2006
Animal Activism: Out of Control
Donald Kennedy
The scientific community has responded to several important science
policy issues this year and is getting a little public traction on
some, including stem cell research policies and global climate change.
We have mostly ignored another, however, and it's a big one. Scientific
progress depends on experiment, and in the life sciences that usually
entails the use of live animals. But in many countries, animal rights
organizations have successfully used extreme tactics to intimidate
scientists and their institutions.
Scientists in the United Kingdom have been engaged in this struggle
longer than those in the United States, and they appear to have been
vigilant enough to secure at least some moderation of the problem. In
the United States, however, if you conduct experiments on primate
nervous systems, you might have the following experience. Photographs,
allegedly of your subjects wearing expressions of extreme pain, are
circulated to media outlets. Crowds with bullhorns picket your
residence, and leaflets declaring that you commit "atrocities" are
distributed to your neighbors. Your colleague who works on monkey
behavior is the target of a firebomb. It is mistakenly placed on a
neighbor's porch; the good news is that the fuse timer failed, but the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says the blast might well have
killed those inside.
Am I making this up? Well, it happened to Dr. Dario Ringach, a member
of the neurobiology faculty at the University of California, Los
Angeles (UCLA). The work he did on higher-order information processing
in visual systems had been published in good journals, including this
one. The dénouement of the assault he weathered for 4 years is
described in a triumphal press release from the Animal Liberation Front
(ALF): "You Win" it said, quoting Ringach. The subhead read, "UCLA
Vivisector Dario Ringach Quits Animal Experimentation." The release
boasts about the reason for this outcome: He "asked that his family be
left alone," it says. Well, in the absence of timely help from his
institution, he made the best decision he could, as you or I probably
would have. Meanwhile, the ALF has taken credit for both this victory
and the firebombing.
During the long spell of Ringach's harassment and the run-up to the
firebombing, UCLA was mostly silent, just when the faculty might have
expected some high-level encouragement and protection. The UCLA News
Office had labeled the firebombing as terrorism and said: "UCLA
condemns that." Fine as far as it went, but a firm statement from the
top was needed, and one was finally forthcoming on 27 August, weeks
after these troubling incidents. It came from Acting Chancellor Norman
Abrams, who condemns the harassers as terrorists (thereby choosing
exactly the right word), promises more security to protect the faculty
members who do animal research, and doubles the $30,000 FBI reward for
apprehension of the firebomber. That will help, but more remains to be
done. It turns out that the folks who are promoting the harassment of
faculty have had inside help and participation from students. Yet
appeals by researchers for disciplinary action have gone unanswered,
even though harassment is a listed violation under the UCLA Student
Code.
Meanwhile, there's more on tap. The ALF has announced its own reward:
$10,000 for anyone who supplies information that "leads to the end of
an animal experiment or the arrest and final conviction of any
vivisector at UCLA." It's good that the university is now moving on the
problem. But the terrorists, equipped with a kind of moral certainty
that cannot distinguish righteous from right, are likely to continue
this campaign unless the law of the land makes it clearly illegal and
punishable. Fortunately, there is an opportunity for effective
congressional action in this area. H.R. 4239 (the Senate companion is
S. 1926) has already been heard by the House Judiciary Committee.
Entitled the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, it would prohibit threats
against researchers and their families and establish penalties for
economic damage or for placing a researcher in reasonable fear of death
or bodily injury. It also specifically prohibits "tertiary" targeting:
actions against those who have a relationship or transactions with
animal enterprises, including researchers. The House Judiciary
Committee should get this bill out for a vote as soon as possible,
before somebody gets killed.
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