Science Policy Announcements
For the latest news from APS Science Policy click here.
Resource Book Now Available
Click here for more info on The APS Resource Book for the Design of Animal Exercise Protocols.
Zerhouni Condemns Attack on UCLA Researcher
“Terrorism against researchers using animals is real and intolerable” declared National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Elias Zerhouni in response to an attack on the home of a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researcher. It was the second attack in four months against Edythe London, an NIH grantee who is studying nicotine and methamphetamine addiction. In his February 8 statement denouncing animal rights extremism, Zerhouni stressed that animal research is vital to medical progress as well as thoroughly regulated.
On February 5, 2008, animal extremists detonated an incendiary device on the porch of London’s Los Angeles home. The device set fire to her front door, but no one was injured. London, formerly a senior scientist at the NIH, conducts both clinical and animal studies. The latter—some of which involves vervet monkeys—has made her a target for animal extremists.
The earlier attack on London’s home occurred in October of 2007. The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) claimed responsibility for flooding London’s home, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage. In their statement claiming responsibility, the extremists said “[w]e will not stop until UCLA discontinues its primate vivisection programe [sic].”
Over the last few years, UCLA and other research institutions around the county have seen a rise in the frequency of attacks on animal researchers. One, involving a Molotov cocktail that failed to detonate, nevertheless caused a neurobiology researcher to abandon his work with animals. The escalation of harassment has sparked many statements denouncing the violence, including two at the end of 2007 from NIH Deputy Director for Extramural Research Norka Ruiz Bravo.
February 21, 2008, UCLA filed a suit against several individuals and organizations to block “a campaign of terrorism, vandalism and menacing threats” directed against its employees. The same day, a judge issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the listed parties from further attacks on UCLA employees. The order also required that the individuals named in the suit to stay at least 50 feet away from UCLA employees during demonstrations. The judge further directed that personal information about employees be removed from the extremists’ websites.
American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) President Judith Rapoport also condemned the February 5 attack. “We are fortunate that dedicated scientists such as [London] are willing to continue their important research even in the face of such endangerment to life and property,” Rapoport said in a statement.
London, whose father died from complications of nicotine addiction, responded to the flooding of her home with a November 1, 2007 Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times. She said it would be “immoral to decline an opportunity to increase our knowledge about addiction and develop new treatments for quitting smoking.” She resolved to continue her work saying “[w]e must not allow these extremists to stop important research that advances the human condition.”
Zerhouni’s statement touched on the economic and personal cost of addiction, calling it “a disease that devastates individuals, families, communities” and praised London’s work as “a prime example of NIH’s efforts to promote translational research.” He concluded saying “[t]he terrorist activity against London and her family was not just intimidation—it was life threatening. This was a threat not only to her, but to dedicated scientists working to improve serious health problems facing this country. This violence must stop.”
Back to Top Back to Bioscience Briefing