Monday, August 4, 2008

Researchers Attacked By Animal Rights Activists

I've never understood people who are willing to kill human beings in order to protect animals. I do understand that people like animals and feel that they need to protect them, but scientific research conducted on animals is essential to advancing our understanding of biological processes. We can't very well test drugs in the earliest stages on human beings, now can we?

Fire-bombing a home with small children in it shows reckless disregard for human life, and I hope when the culprits are caught the jury gives them the maximum possible sentence. Not only that, the people who issued the pamphlets encouraging such attacks and including the names and home addresses of researchers should be arrested and charged as co-conspirators. The authors knew very well what the people who received the pamphlets would do with that information.

The people behind these attacks are violent terrorists who are not only trying to harm the scientists involved in this research, they are trying to harm anybody who could eventually be helped by this research. Without animal testing, we wouldn't have many of the drugs we have today that are helping people beat cancer and survive other devastating diseases. And we wouldn't have the many drugs that will be available in the next several years for treatment of such debilitating conditions as Alzheimer's disease.

I know the people who are doing this probably think they're trying to make the world a better place. But just once I'd like to see them take a walk through the pediatric intensive care unit at a hospital and realize who these researchers are trying to help.

2 comments:

Tracy H. said...

Not all researchers are trying to help sick people. Edythe London was getting paid by Philip Morris to do research on animals. Philip Morris clearly doesn't care about people's health. Also, many animal testing involves household cleaners, shampoo and makeup -- all of which contain toxins. That's not about people's health.

Matt Metcalf said...

"Philip Morris clearly doesn't care about people's health."

True... Philip Morris cared about faked research that tried to prove that cigarettes aren't bad for people (in spite of decades of evidence).

"Also, many animal testing involves household cleaners, shampoo and makeup"

Also true, although that stuff has to be texted for toxicity before it can be used anywhere. While it may not be medical research, it's still fairly important stuff (okay, maybe not cosmetics). And they can't very well test baby shampoo on actual babies.

Regardless, none of the things you point out come close to justifying fire-bombing somebody's house with their young children inside.