The UCLA Pro-Test Rally to be held on April 22nd has been generating a lot of media interest so far. In the sixth day of the movement’s life here are some excerpts of the many blogs which are rallying round the UCLA Pro-Test movement.
To kick off, the blog for Science Journal offered the details of the rally, as well as mentioning Speaking of Research founder Tom Holder:
Jentsch has founded a chapter of Pro-Test, a group that started in Oxford, U.K., and gained media attention and public support for animal testing. Jentsch is organizing a pro-research rally at UCLA to take place on 22 April … Several speakers will talk about the value of biomedical research, including Tom Holder, a former Oxford philosophy student and pro-research activist.
Next up, the Respectful Insolence blog gets to the heart of some of the anger felt by researcher:
I don’t know about you, but as a surgeon and a biomedical researcher, I’m fed up with animal rights terrorists who threaten biomedical research with their misinformation about animal research, their terroristic attacks on scientists who engage in such research, and listening to the despicable self-righteous idiot who is a disgrace to surgeons everywhere, Dr. Jerry Vlasak, spouting off about how assassinating researchers who use animals as part of their research would be justified.
UCLA Today can be congratulated in making the clear link between animal research and medical benefits in their post on the rally:
Research involving laboratory animals has enhanced our understanding of how the human body functions and has led to the development of lifesaving procedures and medicines, including radiation therapy and other cancer treatments, vaccines, open-heart surgery, mental health treatments and organ transplantation. There is overwhelming agreement among physicians and scientists worldwide that most of the major medical discoveries in recent decades would not have been possible without the use of laboratory animals.
The Drug Monkey blog offered an important reason to join the UCLA Pro-Test Facebook group (and join the Speaking of Research group while you’re at it):
There is a Facebook group, in case you want to keep up with the goings-on. More importantly, adding yourself to the Member list will be an important contribution to one of the underlying idea of Pro-Test, i.e., to show just how many people support animal research.
The Guadian, a national newspaper in the UK covered the launch in their blog saying:
[UCLA Pro-Test] will be demonstrating in defence of their research and are inviting others to give their support. The rally will mirror those held by Pro-Test, an organisation that arose in Oxford after activists targeted the university.
We’ll finish with Nick Anthis’ concluding points on his Scientific Activist blog posting on the rally:
It’s clear that we need to heed Pro-Test’s example and take our pro-research message to the streets in the US as well, giving a voice to the silent majority that opposes the actions of these fringe extremists. That’s why these UCLA scientists and their nascent Pro-Test chapter deserve our full support. So, if you’re in the LA area, plan on attending their April 22nd rally, and if you’re able to help out in any other way, please get in touch with them.
It’s great to see bloggers working together to promote the rally and the pro-science values it holds true. Keep it up!
Regards
Tom
Speaking of Research 
If I may be permitted a minor digression Mo at the Neurophilosophy blog has written about a fascinating study in which German scientists studied the migration of adult nerve cell precursors in the mouse brain.
http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2009/04/new_cells_in_the_adult_brain_migrate_long_distances_by_crawling_along_blood_vessels.php
This study uncovered a previously unknown mechanism through which the nerve cells are guided during their long (in cellular) migration from one side of the brain to the other.
This is what we term basic research, research done primarily to discover how the body works rather than to develop a treatment for a specific disease. Having said that this work will no doubt be of great interest to scientists developing new treatments (including stem cells) for brain injuries and neurological disorders. Encouraging brain repair involves making sure the right cells, whether produced by the brain itself or injected by doctors, end up in the right location, and this work will help scientists to do that.