A neuroscientist whose car was firebombed by violent animal rights activists has decided to fight back, at least in the court of public opinion. The UCLA professor, David Jentsch, has formed a group called UCLA Pro-Test, and is organizing a rally in support of animal testing. “People always say: ‘Don’t respond. If you respond, that will give [the attackers] credibility,’” Jentsch, 37, said in a recent interview in his UCLA office. “But being silent wasn’t making us feel safer. And it’s a moot point if they are coming to burn your car anyway, whether you give them credibility or not” [Los Angeles Times].
UCLA Pro-Test, named after a similar group in the United Kingdom, wants to show its support for animal research that is conducted in a humane and regulated way. Jentsch studies schizophrenia and drug addiction, and works on both rodents and vervet monkeys.
The Animal Liberation Brigade took credit for bombing Jentsch’s Volvo as it sat in his driveway in the early morning hours of March 7. The activist group wrote in an Internet posting: “The things you and others like you do to feeling, sentient monkeys is so cruel and disgusting we can’t believe anyone would be able to live with themselves…. David, here’s a message just for you, we will come for you when you least expect it and do a lot more damage than to your property” [Los Angeles Times].
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The nation’s largest primate research center has been accused of mistreating its monkeys and apes by the Human Society, which sent an undercover investigator to work at the research center for nine months. The New Iberia Research Laboratory houses more than 6,000 primates, including rhesus macaques and several hundred chimpanzees, on a sprawling 100-acre site in rural Louisiana. On its website, the Humane Society has posted clips of the video footage that show monkeys with open wounds, chimps being sedated with dart guns and falling from their perches onto the floor [The Scientist].
The Humane Society filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, listing 328 possible violations of the Animal Welfare Act. In response, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack ordered an investigation of the facility. “In light of the video evidence presented today, I am ordering a thorough investigation of animal welfare practices at New Iberia Research Center,” Vilsack said. “If the allegations prove to be true, the American public can expect the perpetrators to be held fully accountable. I take the protection of animals very seriously, and will do my utmost to fully enforce the Animal Welfare Act” [The Times-Picayune].
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The European Commission has proposed a ban on medical research performed on our species’ closest relatives, the great apes. The pan-European initiative would extend a ban already in force in Austria, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Sweden across the entire 27-member bloc. The ban, however, would not greatly affect current research, because no testing has been carried out on great apes in the EU for the past six years [The Scientist]. Nevertheless, the proposal [pdf] has received mixed reviews from both the scientific community, who fear excessive red tape, and animal rights groups, who say the ban does not go far enough.
If approved, the ban would prohibit researchers from using great apes, including chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans, to test scientific “procedures,” although behavioral studies will still be allowed. There will also be exceptions for research that could save a great ape species threatened with extinction and in the case of a serious pandemic that affects humans. The proposal also affects research on other animals, stressing the “3Rs” of reducing the number of animals used, refining techniques to lessen pain and discomfort, and replacing animal studies with alternatives [ScienceNOW Daily News]. Some 12 million vertebrate animals are used each year in experiments throughout the 27-nation bloc — half for drug development and testing, a third for biology studies and the rest for cosmetics tests, toxicology and disease diagnosis [Reuters].
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It’s clearly a historic occasion, albeit a weird one: The Spanish parliament has announced its support for granting legal rights to gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans. The parliament’s environmental committee has approved resolutions committing the country to the Great Apes Project, an international campaign that aims to provide our closest genetic relatives with the right to life, the freedom of liberty and protection from torture [Great Ape Project]. The Spanish resolutions have majority support, and are expected to soon become law.
“This is a historic moment in the struggle for animal rights,” Pedro Pozas, the Spanish director of the Great Apes Project, told The Times. “It will doubtless be remembered as a key moment in the defence of our evolutionary comrades.”… Mr. Pozas said that the vote would set a precedent, establishing legal rights for animals that could be extended to other species. “We are seeking to break the species barrier — we are just the point of the spear,” he said. [The Times].
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