We found your article entitled "Animal Research Articles Draw Fire" (T.W. Durso, The Scientist, March 31, 1997, page 1) very revealing about the intransigence of some scientists when discussing the topic of animal research. If the forum on animal research presented in the February 1997 issue of Scientific American, and more specifically the article by Neal Barnard and Steven Kaufman (Scientific American, 276:80-2, February 1997), are actually causing scientists to "worry that the magazine's primary audience, the general public, may be unable to discern what is and what isn't scientifically legitimate," then scientists should also worry about the article by Jack Botting and Adrian Morrison (Scientific American, 276:83-5, February 1997), but for different reasons.
One of our responsibilities as scientists is to communicate an appreciation of what we do to the public. They are the financial supporters of most biomedical research and are its main beneficiary. It follows, therefore, that ...
