As a college professor, I was interested to read your opinion on animal research.1 My interest and experience is in animal use in college laboratories. I taught at Iona College, a medium-sized liberal arts college in New Rochelle, NY, from 1991 until 2001 and am currently teaching at Montgomery College in Germantown, Md. While at Iona, I came to believe that using animals in college was counterproductive for several reasons. In particular, I found that, in any class, there would be at least one student who was vehemently opposed to animal use in classroom demonstrations.
The student was nearly always very vocal and would quickly persuade most of the rest of the class that the laboratory activity was either "cruel and inhumane" or "stupid and pointless." While these arguments might not persuade most scientists, they were very effective in making college students question the necessity of the demonstration. Many states ...
