As Jeffrey Mervis reports in "U.S. Officials Defend Animal Research" (The Scientist, Jan. 8, 1990, page 1), the number of people joining the animal protection movement has indeed increased. This explosive growth can be attributed to the fact that the movement embraces goals that are shared by compassionate citizens who abhor cruelty to animals as well as people.
The increasing number of scientists, physicians, and scholars who are speaking out against the many questionable activities that come under the heading of "animal experimentation" are not opposed to science. But they are opposed to the barbarous, ill-conceived, and, too often, redundant experiments conducted in the name of science. Their position has been given credence by the wasteful and abusive experiments that have been made public over the past decade.
Far too many animal experimenters, lacking imagination and wed to habit, seem unwilling to adopt reasonable approaches to reform....
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