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SANTA CRUZ - A UC Santa Cruz faculty member whose biomedical research using animals sheds light on the causes of breast cancer and neurological diseases was the target of an attack Sunday afternoon, reportedly by animal rights activists. UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal confirmed late Monday that an off-campus home invasion by six masked intruders occurred at a faculty member's home. In a statement, Blumenthal called the incident "very disturbing." Santa Cruz police reported that six people wearing bandanas tried to break into a Westside home just before 1 p.m., and that one of the family members, not the faculty member,...

Animal-rights advocates have escalated protests against UC Berkeley researchers in recent months, visiting their homes at midnight and even leafleting their children's soccer games. And today could be the most confrontational day yet. Protesters have been saying it will be "a day of action" against UC Berkeley faculty members who use animals for research. Advertisements found on Web sites such as Craigslist and MySpace, do not include details about the protest, and messages sent to an e-mail address in the ads were not returned. The protests, according to the listings, are being held because "40,000 nonhuman animals are currently held...

The constant calls, the people frightening his children, and the demonstrations in front of his home apparently became a little too much. Dario Ringach, an associate neurobiology professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, decided this month to give up his research on primates because of pressure put on him, his neighborhood, and his family by the UCLA Primate Freedom Project, which seeks to stop research that harms animals. Anti-animal research groups are trumpeting Ringach’s move as a victory, while some researchers are worried that it could embolden such groups to use more extreme tactics. . . ....

It seems that human beings are not the only ones who are able to string sentences together MONKEYS are able to string together a simple “sentence”, according to research that offers the first evidence that animals might be capable of a key feature of language. British scientists have discovered that the putty-nosed monkey in Nigeria pictured above sometimes communicates by combining sounds into a sequence that has a different meaning from any of its component calls, an ability that was thought to be uniquely human. Although many animals communicate with one another using calls that have a particular meaning —...

British system could offer more accurate reporting of animal suffering. Britain could soon overhaul its regulations on how research that uses animals is reported. The proposed new measures aim to give the public a better understanding of exactly what pain and suffering lab animals experience throughout their lives. At present, licence-holders for animal research are required to state, in advance, the degree of suffering that an 'average' animal will experience during the course of a given study. But many feel that this does not give a clear picture of what is actually happening. Under the new system, scientists who use...

The University of Wisconsin's animal research program is not transparent enough, and people would turn against it if they saw animals in their cages and during testing, an animal rights activist says. Rick Bogle of the Primate Freedom Project faced off against Eric Sandgren, the chairman of the All-Campus Animal Care and Use Committee, during a tense one-and-a-half hour debate Thursday night at UW-Madison's Chamberlin Hall. They spoke before a crowd of several hundred people that appeared evenly divided. The onlookers took an interest in the thousands of research animals the university uses for its research programs. Despite Bogle's arguments,...

After a century of scrutinizing the laboratory mouse, one might imagine that scientists would know the creature's body like the back of their own hands. Think again, because German researchers say they have discovered a whole new organ. Common knowledge holds that in mice, the thymus, a pinkish-grey lump of tissue that helps to produce the infection-fighting T cells of the immune system, is roughly the size of a pea and nestles in the chest above the heart. Now Hans-Reimer Rodewald at the University of Ulm in Germany, and his colleagues say they have discovered a smaller, second thymus hidden...

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- The call to assassinate research scientists, heard on Sunday's 60 Minutes, is a call to action for Congress to give law enforcement the powers necessary to investigate and arrest those who would carry out such crimes, according to Americans for Medical Progress, a nonprofit organization that counters the animal rights threat to biomedical research. "The outrageous statement by Jerry Vlasak is not new, and confirms what we in the biomedical research community have known for years: that there truly is a violent element among the animal rights movement that would stop at nothing --...

In yesterday's hearing before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, former Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) spokes-doctor Jerry Vlasak waxed not-so-eloquent about the role that animal researchers should play in the search for AIDS and cancer cures. Speaking of scientists whose work requires the use of lab rats, Vlasak insisted that if they "won't stop when told to stop, one option would be to stop them using any means necessary." Asked by Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) if he endorsed the use of deadly force, Vlasak insisted that murder "would be a morally justifiable solution." [click here...

PALO ALTO, September 22, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The use of human foetal brain tissue in spinal cord experiments with mice has shown some success, but is likely to alarm medical ethicists as well as raise objections from pro-life advocates. Researchers at University of California at Irvine injected stem cells derived from the brains of human foetuses into mice with severe spinal cord injuries. The mice regained some mobility and the research team is cautiously hopeful that this experiment will lead to progress with spinal cord injuries in humans. The stem cells were derived from babies aborted at about 16 to...

NEWARK, N.J. -- Authorities are searching for three mice infected with bubonic plague that disappeared from a research laboratory about two weeks ago.While health experts say the risk to the public is slim to none, the incident highlights ongoing security failures at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The mice went missing from the lab of the Public Health Research Institute, which is located on the UMDNJ campus and conducts bioterrorism research for the federal government. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FBI are investigating, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported in Thursday's newspapers. The...

The "animal rights" movement has pulled off a deadly deception: promote a vicious, anti-human policy, while feigning benevolent, compassionate motives. The deception takes the form of opposing life-saving medical research--in the name of opposing cruelty to animals. [...] The founder of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, has declared unequivocally that animal research is "immoral even if it's essential" and that "Even painless research is fascism, supremacism." When questioned what her movement's stance would be if animal tests produced a cure for AIDS, Newkirk responded: "We'd be against it." Chris DeRose, founder of the group Last Chance for Animals, writes: "If the death...

A shaky, amateurish video shows everything in graphic detail: Four masked people break into darkened university labs, pour toxic chemicals onto computers and stacks of files, and release hundreds of research rats and mice. They spray-paint walls with slogans such as "Science not Sadism" and "Free the Animals." The November break-in at the University of Iowa's Spence Laboratories - a crime for which there have been no arrests but for which the group Animal Liberation Front, or ALF, has claimed responsibility - is characterized by university and law-enforcement officials as terrorism. Such incidents have made university campuses ground zero in...

PETA: People Enabling Terrorist Atrocities By Michael Fumento Published 06/15/2005 To hear the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals tell it, they're just animal lovers. They usually claim they simply want to ensure our furry and feathered friends aren't abused. In reality, they call humans "a cancer" and insist we all become become vegetarians. They also say that all animal testing, necessary for testing new drugs, be eliminated. "Even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we'd be against it," says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk Indeed, PETA's latest target is the world's largest medical experiment contracting lab,...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Attack on medical researchBy David MartoskoPublished April 21, 2005 Last week the world celebrated an historic medical research milestone, the 50th anniversary of the polio vaccine. But Hollywood glitterati -- including Alec Baldwin, Noah Wyle and Emmylou Harris -- dishonored that life-saving moment by celebrating another milestone -- the 20th birthday of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). This is an organization which opposes the very research that made the polio breakthrough possible.     In 1949, Science magazine explained to readers that animals (including mice, oxen and rhesus monkeys) were needed in every phase of polio...

Animal rights activists could face five years in prison for targeting research centres under measures to be published by the government. The plans, part of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, follow attacks on scientists and breeders. These include graffiti, hate mail, malicious phone calls, hoax bombs and arson attacks. But campaigners say isolated incidents do not justify the introduction of laws banning legitimate protests. The bill would make it a criminal offence to cause "economic damage" through campaigns of intimidation. The plans also include giving police powers to arrest anyone protesting outside the homes of scientists.

LONDON (AFP) - The British government announced plans to introduce legislation preventing activists from harassing scientists engaged in animal research. The pharmaceutical industry immediately welcomed the government proposals which were mentioned in the annual speech Queen Elizabeth II (news - web sites) gave at the opening of parliament. Under the Serious Organized Crime and Police Bill, which would cover England and Wales, the police would have more power to direct protesters away from the homes of such researchers. The bill would provide for a new offense of protesting outside homes in a way that causes "harassment, alarm or distress" to...

"This may be the most important letter I've ever written," declares People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) president Ingrid Newkirk in a September 27 fundraising letter. "I can honestly say that, in the almost 25 years that PETA has been in existence, I've never -- never, ever! - witnessed a more organized, well-funded, multi-industry attack on animal rights and PETA than the one we're under right now. It is getting stronger every day ? We are number one on their hit list, and they are out for PETA's blood." For once, we agree with Newkirk. And we're thrilled...