I've written on the growing importance of genetically modified (GM) mice in cancer research before, but it's been a little while since I revisited the subject. So when I saw this BBC story yesterday on how scientists at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute has used an elegant study in GM mice to identify a gene … Continue reading What GM mice can tell us about pancreatic cancer (and medical charities)
Category: Animal Rights News
The Golden Goose Awards
Politicians sometimes deride research based on the what they perceive as being "silly" titles of federal funded grants. If they spot a title that deals with "games", for example, they may assume it deals with some sort of amusement of little value to society, instead of a deep, powerful branch of mathematics that describes the behavior of … Continue reading The Golden Goose Awards
Straight from the animal rights book
It is that time of the year when animal rights activists, will show up at our workplaces dressed in their favorite animal costumes to spread more nonsense and misinformation about the nature of biomedical research. One of their favorite claims is that the scientific community treats animals like any other piece of disposable, laboratory equipment … Continue reading Straight from the animal rights book
Objections to the Marginal Case Argument
Scientists are often challenged with the so-called marginal case argument. We are asked to spell out the criteria that make our experiments justifiable in animals but not in humans with comparable abilities and therefore comparable interests. These criteria, we are told, must be evaluated for each individual separately (so-called moral individualism). The resulting argument against … Continue reading Objections to the Marginal Case Argument
PeTA, Celebrities and Violence
In an incident widely reported this week, the public learned that Kim Kardashian was attacked by an anti-fur activist with a bag of flour. Normally we would not pay attention to such goings on, the sartorial debacles of minor celebrities are amusing but of little importance, and we are well aware of the ethical distinctions … Continue reading PeTA, Celebrities and Violence
Big Questions, but few answers from opponents of animal research
A recent edition of the BBC1 Program called “The Big Questions” offered a brief debate on animal research. Among those discussing the issues was SR's founder, Tom Holder. Within this post we will discuss some of the many issues which were touched upon, but barely explored in this brief debate. Some of the questions centered … Continue reading Big Questions, but few answers from opponents of animal research
Professor Doudet vindicated as investigation rejects animal rights allegations.
Two weeks ago we discussed the targeting by Canadian animal rights group Stop UBC Animal Research (STOP) of University of British Columbia scientist Professor Doris Doudet. STOP alleged that Prof. Doudet had performed experiments on monkeys without the approval of the UBC Animal Care Committee, and then lied in a scientific paper to cover her … Continue reading Professor Doudet vindicated as investigation rejects animal rights allegations.
The 21st Century Scientist
Earlier today we discussed some of the characteristics of the animal rights crank, so it’s perhaps appropriate that an award announced earlier this week has highlighted the best qualities of the scientists who are really shaping 21st century medicine. The Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Foundation has awarded its 2nd €1-million Brain Prize to Professor … Continue reading The 21st Century Scientist
Speaking of Research 