WIKIMEDIA, JANET STEPHENSIn the 1990s, universities were the most common targets of attacks by those opposed to the use of animals in research. More recently, animal rights extremists have shifted their focus toward individuals, business partners, and investors, according to a new report from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). “These activities can happen to anybody—no one is immune,” Michael Conn, a cochair of the committee behind the report and the senior vice president for research at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, told ScienceInsider.
FASEB’s report looked into 220 illegal incidents by animal extremists from 1990 to 2012. According to the report, “extremists have placed bombs in cars, sent ‘AIDS-tainted’ razor blades in the mail, and desecrated the graves of their targets’ relatives.” In the ’90s, 61 percent of the incidents were aimed at universities, while 9 percent targeted individuals' homes or property. After 2000, universities suffered 13 percent of the attacks, while individuals were the target of 46 percent of the attacks. Business partners and investors received 6 percent and 11 percent of the attacks, respectively, from 2000 to 2012, whereas they were not targeted in the 1990s.
The report goes on to offer advice to individuals and organizations ...
