Hundreds march for animal testing

[tangaroa]

ScienceBlogs was abuzz yesterday with postings about the the "pro-test" movement, a rally in support of scientific testing on animals. The DrugMonkey blog has links to several reports about the rally at UCLA. Pro-Test formed as a reaction to the violence of the Animal Liberation Front which had firebombed a researcher's car and threatened him with "a lot more damage than to your property".

So here we have two sides that I am not really fond of. I have never been a fan of animal testing, where it can become easy to see an animal as simply another piece of equipment to be used and discarded when done. On the other hand, the Animal Liberation Front is atrocious. ALF and its partner in violence ELF seem to be as much about the ego boost from destroying things and holding power over the people they dislike as they are about their causes. I hesitate to call them "terrorists" like the FBI does since they have a policy against using violence on people -- I find it more accurate to describe them as arsonists and saboteurs -- but their activities and rhetoric bear more resemblance than is tolerable to that of terrorist groups. At least the research on animals gives us knowledge and safer medicine.

Related:

• Greg Laden annually lectures on, as he puts it, "the utter stupidity and moral bankruptcy of ALF and similar misguided causes". The link goes to a personal note rather than an argument, but it is worth reading.