On June 1st, Michael Budkie, Executive Director of Stop Animal Exploitation Now! (Warning: AR Website) (SAEN), issued a press release that was picked up by some media outlets, including United Press International (UPI) and USA Today. The press release read in part: The next industry meltdown may be in the nation’s research laboratories, an independent … Continue reading Federal Agencies rebut Michael Budkie’s misrepresentation of scientific research
Author: speakingofresearch
Animal Liberation Front Strike in the US
It is not just Europe that has been struck by the recent spate of animal rights extremism (to which the North American Animal Liberation Press Officer responded, "We personally can only regret that Mr. Vasella was not present in the home when it burned"). The US has seen a number of attacks which have taken … Continue reading Animal Liberation Front Strike in the US
Basic science is fundamental science
I continue my series on some of the misconceptions of biomedical science (previously looking at the limits of fMRI and computer simulations) with a look at what basic science is. Some scientists devote their entire lives to understanding and describing key experimental phenomena in their fields of study: that is, they engage in “basic science”. … Continue reading Basic science is fundamental science
Graverobbing by Animal Rights Extremists
PAST October 9th, 2004. Present July 27th 2009 - Animal Rights Activists steal the ashes of Mr. Vasella's (Novartis CEO) mother. The ashes of [Mr. Vasella's] mother, who died in 2001, had been taken from her grave in the eastern Swiss city of Chur, and the message, “Drop HLS Now’’, spray-painted in red letters on … Continue reading Graverobbing by Animal Rights Extremists
The Limits of Computer Simulations
Following on from the last post about the limits of fMRI technology, we will now look further at the limits of another so called "alternative" - computer simulations. Animal rights groups also argue (Warning: AR website) that advanced computer simulations can replace the use of animals in our research. This position, again, reflects the poor … Continue reading The Limits of Computer Simulations
The limits of fMRI
Animal rights groups often argue (Warning: AR Website) that new imaging technologies, such as fMRI, provide an alternative to invasive brain research in animals, accusing those doing animal work of failing to adopt these modern methods. Such a position reflects a misunderstanding of what these instruments measure and their limitation in studying how the brain … Continue reading The limits of fMRI
Open Letter to Michael Budkie
On June 1, 2009, animal rights activist, Michael Budkie, submitted a letter of complaint (AR Website) to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), with the charge that scientists are performing duplicative research. Mr. Budkie’s complaint was based upon his own analysis of the publicly available information about research funded by the National Eye Institute, … Continue reading Open Letter to Michael Budkie
ALF’s clever website trickery
The ALF web person has been up to some fairly deceitful tricks. Look closely at the screen shot below from the ALF website (Warning: AR Website). The article is about two scientists who have apparently been barred from their university. The interesting thing to note is the link to the Speaking of Research committee webpage … Continue reading ALF’s clever website trickery
Speaking of Research 