Just recently, animal rights “activists” broke out their dated signs and chants and returned to campus to malign the good work that is going on in the research laboratories at UCLA.
These people know little about the conduct of research or of the lives of animals in our labs. They claim that research is torture, that it involves senseless suffering and that scientists are cruel.
They are lying.
Scientific research is both morally right and ethically justifiable. As a result of progress at UCLA (but also at countless other university campuses around the world), there is less death, suffering and disease in the world. We all benefit from it in immeasurable ways, and so do animals.
Our own faculty members routinely conduct life-saving operations on both humans and animals, and those operations are only possible because of the advances in knowledge and therapies afforded by animal research.
Yes, scientific research leads to major medical advances. And despite that, scientists recognize that the ends do not always justify the means.
We create and use alternatives to live animals when we can. We refine our approaches. We use anesthetics and analgesics when necessary to alleviate pain.
And even more importantly, many experiments do not involve pain or distress at all. We act responsibly and humanely in our work.
This is because scientists care deeply about the welfare of humans and animals, and unlike those who march up and down Westwood Boulevard, they have committed their working lives to addressing it.
The people that showed up to protest against research on campus call themselves activists, but they are not.
Instead, the people that act to achieve real change, real progress and real advancements are the scientists that inhabit the corridors of our campus.
We are the real activists striving to make the world a better place, and we commit ourselves to continuing to make scientific progress despite the screams, threats and mayhem coming from those opposed to it.
J. David Jentsch
Professor, Department of Psychology