Buzzle.com
Scientists to Speak Out for Animal Tests
Oxford academics risk retaliation from extremists by going public.
By Guardian Unlimited
3/15/2008


http://www.buzzle.com/articles/183719.html

Two leading academics at Oxford University have decided to face down
threats of violence from animal rights extremists and speak publicly
in favor of the building of a controversial £18m research laboratory
in the city.

Although scientists are advised to remain silent for fear of attacks,
Professor Tipu Aziz, a consultant neurosurgeon, and Professor John
Stein, a neurophysiologist have told the Guardian they believe it is
time to stand up to the radicals who have attempted to stop the
project.

"I think that it is important to speak out," said Prof Aziz, whose
research into Parkinson's disease involves the use of primates.

"The ALF [Animal Liberation Front] are actively now saying that anyone
in Oxford is a target. They have had it all their own way for a long
time. What we are seeing in Britain today is a minority dictating how
the majority of this country live and that is as undemocratic a
process as can be imagined. Animal research is absolutely essential to
medical progress and a lot of research being done in Oxford is
critical."

He and Prof Stein will address a march on Saturday, the first
demonstration supporting the construction of the laboratory.

Extra police are being drafted into Oxford for the march because it
clashes with another being run by Speak, the protest group opposed to
building the new animal research facility.

Prof Stein, who runs the laboratory where research into Parkinson's
and dyslexia is carried out, said he knew there were dangers involved
in speaking at the march.

"You have to be really passionate about this to put your head above
the parapet and not many do," he said. "Some of these people are
loonies and do the most awful things. Let's be clear, we are all
taking a risk, but I feel it is so important I am prepared to take
that risk.

"The anti-vivs have had it all their own way. They have intimidated
people, but the time has come to speak up and risk it. Who knows what
that risk is?

"I feel passionately that animal experiments have benefited mankind
enormously and almost all of the medical advances of the last 100
years have happened through animal experiments. People just don't seem
to know this, it hasn't been got across."

The movement in defence of animal research at Oxford is growing amid
increasing tension. In recent weeks members of the ALF have been
encouraging and directing a violent campaign against university
funders, students and researchers through postings on a website based
in Florida. Set up by undergraduates in a rearguard action to this
increasingly voluble campaign, the pro-animal testing movement is also
using the internet to spread its message.

Work was restarted on the lab in November after a year's delay when
the original contractor, Montpelier, pulled out amid threats and
intimidation from animal activists.

Today the identity of the new contractor, which operates on South
Parks Road behind a five meter (15ft) barrier remains a secret.
Builders wear balaclavas and the vehicles involved are all unmarked.

Under the terms of an injunction obtained by Oxford, noisy
demonstrations against the lab are allowed to take place each
Thursday, within a cordon opposite the building site.

But behind the public face of the anti-lab protest anonymous
extremists from the ALF are encouraging the use of increasingly
violent tactics. On a direct action website, Bite Back, registered to
an address in West Palm Beach, Florida, the ALF posts notices
announcing attacks on anyone linked to the university and calling on
supporters to "do whatever it takes" to "blow these [Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] monsters
off the planet".

Extra security has been offered to many researchers and leading
figures at the university and students have been warned to be
vigilant.

One of the tests for new electrical therapies carried out in Prof
Stein's laboratory involves electrodes being placed in the brains of
monkeys which have been given Parkinson's; something he says is
painless because there are no pain receptors in the brain. On the
Speak website this experiment is highlighted and he is accused of
"inflicting the most horrific suffering on innocent creatures".

Other researchers will remain silent on Saturday, privately believing
Prof Aziz and Prof Stein are taking a huge risk. One, who would not be
named, said it was not even sensible to discuss animal testing
anywhere publicly in Oxford for fear of being overheard by
anti-vivisectionists.

Officers from Nectu, the specialist unit monitoring animal rights
extremists, will watch events on Saturday along with Thames Valley
police. "The track record of animal rights extremists shows there is a
high level of criminality associated with it. All threats are being
taken seriously," said a police source. But the police appear
powerless to act against the Florida website.

The FBI says it is "aware" of the man behind it, Nicolas Atwood, a
Florida-based activist but they cannot close it down because that
would breach the First Amendment, protecting freedom of speech. Mr
Atwood told the Guardian he was a volunteer editor for the site. "The
ALF is made up of compassionate individuals who act on their
conscience, not on the orders of some mysterious leader," he said.

"Bite Back's mission is to support animal rights prisoners of
conscience and report on current events in the struggle. Its editors,
designers and contributors, although maybe sympathetic are not
responsible for any unlawful act taken in pursuit of such benevolent
goals."


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