In the news
6 Sep 2008
14 February 2007
The Dr Hadwen Trust's response to "The mice that roared" (Guardian newspaper, February 13 2007)
Dear Madam / Sir
Jessica Shepherd’s article The mice that roared (Guardian February 13th 2007 ) demonstrated the sort of blatant pandering to pro-vivisection lobbying that regrettably has become typical of media reporting of the animal research debate.
Repeating hype about the threat of animal rights extremism is not just misleading, although misleading it certainly is. It is also a convenient diversion from the issues that animal researchers don’t want the public to engage with – the immense and inevitable suffering in animal experiments, and not forgetting their significant scientific limitations. The Dr Hadwen Trust utterly condemns violence or intimidation, but we condemn also the animal research industry’s attempts to exploit those extreme activities, in order to shut down the debate.
It is absurd and patronising to suggest, that those who oppose animal experiments do so simply because they do not understand it. It is also deeply naïve to assume that scientists who oppose animal experiments do not also find their professional life “lonely and punctuated with paranoia.” In our work as a leading non-animal medical research charity, we liaise with countless researchers and scientists who are afraid to voice doubts about the efficacy of animal experiments. They feel under pressure to support the status quo, and fear their career will be threatened if they speak out. Their silence is testament to the immense pro-vivisection campaign to discredit scientists who dare suggest that animal experiments are unethical or misleading.
Only last month the Guardian itself revealed how many researchers at Oxford University feel their anti-vivisection views are stifled (US neuroscientist rails against Oxford lab January 22). Neurosurgeon and Oxford graduate Marius Maxwell lamented how many of his colleagues “are privately aghast at the ability of a small group of media-savvy vivisectionists to hold the debate hostage and thereby besmirch the international reputation of their university.” His words are a warning; it is not researchers who are the victims in this debate, it is the debate itself. This is not and never has been a battle between white coats and balaclavas, that’s just a side-show. The real battle is within the scientific community itself, and that is far more alarming to the animal research industry than any number of offensive emails.
Yours faithfully
Wendy Higgins
Communications Director
Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research
