Animals and Research: A five-part series

Animals and Research: A five-part series

Sunday, April 16, 2000

Most of what we know about using animals in medical research comes from people who oppose it. Today the Post-Intelligencer begins a five-part series looking at the issue from the other side.

Today and this week in the Opinion section, Northwest physicians and researchers discuss why, despite vehement objections, there's value in using animals in medical research.

This is a controversial topic for many reasons.

For one thing, most of us have or have had pets. Stories of how animals are abused, whether they are true or embellished, spark our anger and sympathy.

Some in society want to end the practice of using animals for medical research. Others want to grant to animals the same rights in law enjoyed by humans. In the extreme, still others believe violence is morally justified in the name of animal rights.

Last year, animal rights activists damaged a Washington State University research facility in Puyallup. At the University of Minnesota, a research venture into Alzheimer's disease that had been in progress for decades was damaged by animal rights activists; complex work was lost forever.

The animal rights movement is well-funded. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, for example, had a $14 million budget in 1998. Other animal rights groups also enjoy budgets in the millions of dollars.

Use of animals in medical research is well-supported with both public and private money. But scientists and physicians have been reluctant to join the debate over use of animals, largely because so many in society accept the use of animals to promote human health and sophisticated advances in medical treatments. And most scientists would prefer to do their research rather than devote time to public relations work promoting their endeavors.

The P-I is publishing this series of contributed essays so readers can hear firsthand from the men and women who work in the field. It was put together through the offices of Susan Adler, executive director of the Washington Association for Biomedical Research. More information about the organization may be obtained at the association's Web site: www.wabr.org

-- Samuel R. Sperry, P-I associate editor/editorial page

Animals & Research, a five-part series

Part 1: Unlocking the secrets of genetic disease through animal research
Part 2: Improving medical treatments for animals
Part 3: Animals are key to discovering new medicines
Part 4: The ethics of using animals in research
Part 5: How research animals live