More transparency won’t stop us from doing what we’re doing. You can’t put a good face on animals being seriously injured or killed.
DAVID GRIMM: ‘In the early 2000s, animal rights groups got wind of a lab at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson that used surgery on live dogs to teach medical students. Activist campaigns forced the school to switch to pigs, but it was soon assailed again. “The dean was getting thousands of calls and emails,” says Thomas Lohmeier, a cardiovascular researcher at the center who uses dogs to develop cardiac implants for people. “So we shut down the pig lab, too. The university just didn’t want to deal with it anymore.”
Lohmeier kept his own research under the radar for 30 years for fear of being targeted. “I was concerned about myself and my family,” he says. “I was worried they’d shut my research down, too.” He thinks transparency won’t stop animal rights activists, let alone bring the public back. “You can explain why your research is important, and this and that, but the animal rights folks won’t care.” One animal rights activist, SAEN Co-Founder Michael Budkie, says Lohmeier is right. “More transparency won’t stop us from doing what we’re doing. You can’t put a good face on animals being seriously injured or killed”.’ SOURCE…
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