Gov. Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 2296 into law Sunday, strengthening protection of academic researchers against violence and threats by those opposed to their practices.
In a statement to the UCLA community, Chancellor Gene Block applauded the governor’s decision on Tuesday, calling the new law “a critical step in addressing the increasingly violent actions being committed by anti-animal research extremists against academic researchers.”
The bill, supported by the University of California, prohibits the publishing of academic researchers’ personal information, including photographs of researchers and their immediate family members, and the location of their homes or workplaces.
The law aims to prevent extremists from gaining the information they need to carry out terrorist activities, many of which have been targeted against animal researchers both at UCLA and other UC campuses over the last few years.
At UCLA alone, incendiary devices similar to Molotov cocktails have been left near researchers’ homes, one house was flooded and a commuter van was firebombed and destroyed.
“The legislation sends a really robust message that the state supports academic research and will not tolerate violence against researchers and their families,” said Phil Hampton, a university spokesman.
Hampton said that previously the biggest step UCLA took against animal rights extremists was filing an injunction and obtaining temporary restraining orders.
Now, researchers will be protected by a “misdemeanor trespass” law, a part of the bill that makes it a crime to anyone to enter a researcher’s private property with the intent of stopping or interfering with his or her work.
Hampton also said that UCLA’s law enforcement is examining the most effective means of enforcing the law.
Assemblyman Gene Mullin, D-South San Francisco, first introduced the bill in February to specifically protect researchers whose work involved the use of animals.
Researchers can now continue with their work without feeling concerned that acts of violence will be committed against them, said Amanda Carson Banks, president of the California Biomedical Research Association, of which UCLA is a member.
Banks said the bill’s purpose goes beyond ensuring the safety of individuals.
“It’s not just about protecting these researchers, it’s about the greater picture of the health of all Californians and the Californian economy,” Banks said.
According to the California Health Institute’s Web site, California has one of the largest biomedical industries in the country.
However, some animal rights activists believe the new law will not have any effect on either above-ground protests or underground anonymous acts of violence against researchers’ activities.
“It’s a showpiece for the UC and their political lackeys,” said Jerry Vlasak, a spokesperson for the North American Animal Liberation Press Office.
Vlasak said the new bill does not directly address the attacks targeting animal researchers that have occurred over the past few years, and that the restraining orders obtained by UCLA earlier this year have not stopped animal rights groups from continuing with their actions, both legal and illegal.
Furthermore, Vlasak said the bill is a potential stepping stone for the government to put limits on free speech.
“Once they’ve stopped you from putting pictures (of researchers) on Web sites, what’s going to be next? This is just one more step to limiting our rights,” Vlasak said.
But Banks said she doesn’t believe legitimate, nonviolent free speech is threatened by the bill.
“It’s when (protesters) step outside the boundaries of free speech that the new law steps in to protect these individual researchers,” Banks said.