US: Scientists, supporters rally for animal research

Led by a professor whose car was set on fire last month in an anonymous attack, more than 400 University of California, Los Angeles, scientists and their supporters rallied on campus last Wednesday to defend research using animals and to protest the violent tactics of some opponents, write Larry Gordon and Raja Abdulrahim for the Los Angeles Times. At almost the same time, about 40 critics of animal research demonstrated just across the boulevard, and the two groups briefly traded slogans before marching to different UCLA plazas. Police reported no violence and no arrests.

With signs proclaiming, "Research Yes, Terror No", the larger rally was organised by UCLA neuroscientist J David Jentsch. Police say Jentsch's car was destroyed by animal rights extremists near his home on 7 March because he uses and sometimes kills vervet monkeys in research on schizophrenia and drug addiction. That incident, in which no one was injured, was the latest in a string of arson attacks and threats against UCLA scientists since 2006.

Jentsch said his rally's comparatively large turnout showed that many people wanted to speak out against the attacks and for the medical advances that he said animal research produces.
Full report on the Los Angeles Times site