The Animal Research War | 
 enlarge | Authors: P. Michael Conn, James V. Parker
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 85608
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
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Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.7 x 0.9
ISBN: 023060014X
Dewey Decimal Number: 179.4
EAN: 9780230600140
ASIN: 023060014X
Publication Date: May 13, 2008
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Product Description
When overzealous animal rights activists threaten one of America's best-known scientists and academic leaders, he collaborates with an analyst of animal rights to produce a personal account of what it is like to be a medical researcher targeted by such a powerful movement. This thoughtful and surprising book analyzes the effect of animal extremism on the world's scientists, their institutions, and professional societies. P. Michael Conn and James V. Parker analyze the motivations of animal rights extremists while also delving into the changing ways in which the public and legal system views animals. The Animal Research War counters the lies propagated by extremist animal rights organizations: for example, the fact that animals comprise only 6% of any medical research, and very little harm comes to animals under experimentation. This book is an intriguing and compelling platform from which to better understand the plight of the modern scientist and the risk to scientific advancement if animal extremism is allowed to win.
Book Description
The Animal Research War is a provocative examination of how overzealous animal rights activists hurt scientific research that has potential to cure many human diseases. It traces the evolution of the animal rights movement, profiles its leaders, and reveals the truth of how extremists threaten the welfare of scientists, their institutions, and professional societies.
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 Truth at last June 23, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Those of us who are involved in training and showing dogs have, for years, dealt with the Animal Rights crazies. For example, a friend was derided for having a service dog. She was accused for 'enslaving' him. These nuts are working hard to end the very concept of pet ownership. Now, in this book, I see how anti-human they really are. Research that is saving lives means nothing to them and they are willing to go to horrible lengths to end it.
This book's a definite keeper... June 9, 2008
10 out of 14 found this review helpful
Imagine a scenario reminiscent of an old Hitchcock thriller: the hero (usually it's Cary Grant) barely eludes a group of sinister pursuers (KGB? Gestapo?) in an airport by forcing his way through the throng of people waiting to board an airplane, only to discover upon arrival at his destination that his pursuers are waiting for him there, too, and so the desperate chase continues. And so on. Only thing is, in this case it's not Cary Grant and it's not a movie; it's real.
The real-life thriller that opens The Animal Research War has animal activists actually in pursuit of one of its authors, physician-scientist P. Michael Conn, in an airport. The activists have Dr. Conn "in the crosshairs," as he puts it. They're chasing him through the airport and, if necessary, intend to intercept him at his destination to prevent him from visiting the University of South Florida. Why? Because in their view, he is a despised "primate tester" who subjects non-human primates to all manner of cruel - and unnecessary - experimentation in the name of medical science, and should therefore be stopped in his tracks. Never mind that they and other animal activists are the only folks who hold this disparaging view of Dr. Conn's job, and never mind that his research doesn't involve primates at all, or, for that matter, even living animals. Dr. Conn's research involves cultured cells. This news should thrill animal activists, not enrage them. Go figure.
So begins this interesting, informative and factual little book about the terror that's lately been inflicted by animal activists on otherwise unsuspecting biomedical scientists. Both authors of this book know whereof they speak. Dr. Conn has had a distinguished career in academic medicine and biomedical research. He currently directs the Oregon National Primate Research Center and has seen more than his fair share of protests by animal activists intent on putting the ONPRC out of business. His co-author, Dr. James V. Parker, is a respected scholar of philosophy, theology and science in his own right, and formerly was the Public Information Officer for the ONPRC. He, too, has had more than his share of encounters with animal activists.
Conn and Parker write in clear and concise fashion, and with thorough documentation, to introduce the reader to some of the main players and organizations in today's version of animal activism, which has become decidedly more violent and extremist than was the case 15 or 20 years ago. They recount the 19th Century origins, philosophy and history of the animal rights movement up to the present time, correct several gross distortions of history that never seem to get purged from the animal rights literature for such drugs as insulin, penicillin and thalidomide, and assess the various strategies that animal activists employ to disrupt the efforts of targeted organizations or people. The authors' accounts of the tactics terrorists used to intimidate animal researchers in the U.S. and elsewhere are, well, chilling. Towards the end of the book the authors take a chapter to explain the extent to which federal laws, veterinary oversight, and enforced research ethics assure that all research conducted in the U.S. with experimental animals is done with humane care and valid scientific purpose, not that any activists or terrorists are listening, you understand.
The authors have aimed this book appropriately enough at lay readers, complete with a glossary to define unfamiliar terms. Even so, this book is also for professionals, and should be read by anyone who is currently involved, even indirectly, in animal research (e.g., scientists, laboratory technicians, veterinarians, members of institutional animal care and use committees, deans and department heads), especially those who have not as yet had any direct experience with the sorts of folks who oppose their work, and who might stoop to violence and terror to stop it.
The book's brevity makes it the perfect read for folks who want a quick lesson on the animal rights movement. It's especially apropos for my colleagues in the animal research community who "don't have time for this stuff anyway," and who, in too many cases, may not even know that there's a war on, much less that they're "the enemy."
The final chapter of the book sends a message directly to members and friends of the scientific community by urging advocates of animal research, and animal researchers themselves, to speak out with unified voices against the movement's terror tactics, distorted message and inhumane agenda. This is easier said than done; most scientists don't like to run in packs, and most of us would be leery of calling attention to ourselves, especially after reading this book. Nevertheless, Conn and Parker are correct when they say that one of the most effective tools we give to the animal rights movement to use against us is our collective silence. Read this book and pass it along to a friend or colleague. Then write your Congressman. Ask him/her for a surge in this other war against terror.
 Sadly Typical May 26, 2008
10 out of 31 found this review helpful
[Note: This book is critical of me. My opinion may be biased.]
The Animal Research War may be of interest to those on both sides of the animal rights controversy but it fails to present a balanced or careful accounting for the uninformed. Careful readers will recognize logical fallacies throughout; well-informed readers will notice many factual errors. The Animal Research War sheds no light on this important issue, but it does offer a sample of the tall tales that vivisectors frighten each other with about animal rights activists.
The book would have more value if it offered some insight into the thoughts and beliefs of the authors, but this potential value is clouded by their motivation for writing it. One of the authors (Parker) directed public relations for the Oregon Primate Center, a central setting in the book, for a number of years. This makes it impossible to know whether the authors genuinely believe their claims about the historic results of animal experimentation, its future potential, the way the animals are treated, oversight, etc., or whether the claims are just a repetition of past propaganda.
Scholarship is sorely lacking throughout the text. Misstatements of fact must be based on a lack of knowledge or else are an artifact of the authors believing the industry's propaganda. The brevity of the text (155 pages not including two brief appendices) makes the errors all the more apparent. Examples abound. For instance, they claim that deaths from influenza are down by 85% since 1919 due to animal experimentation (108).
The 1918 Spanish flu, (caused by the H1N1 influenza virus) is the most deadly virus yet encountered by humanity, and between 1918 and 1919 it killed an estimated 30 to 100 million people world wide. There is no vaccine for the Spanish flu, and the disease was believed to be extinct until 2005 when scientists using monkeys and other animals back-engineered the virus from tissue taken from human remains buried in the Canadian permafrost. The disease had disappeared naturally with no help from medical science. Using the death rate from 1919 as a base line and claiming the lower rate today is due to animal experimentation is misleading and either uninformed or dishonest. John M. Barry's The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History (Penguin Books, 2005) is a worthwhile source for anyone interested in the history of this disease.
Another example is the authors' confused notions of polio and their brief discussion of the use of monkeys in the development of polio vaccines (118-121). They gloss over the deadly results of the misleading discovery that emulsified brain tissue from humans or monkeys with polio transmits polio when injected into the noses of monkeys. This discovery stalled the vaccines for a generation. David M. Oshisky's 2006 Pulitzer Prize winning Polio: An American Story (Oxford) offers an interesting look at the history of the efforts to eradicate polio as well as the propaganda to make the disease seem more dangerous than it actually was. The Institute of Infantile Paralysis (The March of Dimes) became a template for future disease-related charity fund-raising efforts.
I was surprised by the authors' descriptions of various activists and organizations--sometimes they didn't even get the organizations' names right.
The authors spent considerable time disparaging Matt Rossell, an undercover investigator who spent two years inside the Oregon Primate Center photographing and videotaping (19-27). The authors claim that he manipulated his images to mislead the public, but I viewed over three hours of his raw footage and the resultant short film that was seen widely. There were no alterations. Conn and Parker rely on the fact that the USDA did not fine the lab when they investigated Rossell's allegations. But they tell half the story. Participating in the initial news conference was Dr. Isis Johnson-Brown, a veterinarian and previously a USDA inspector who had inspected the Oregon Primate Center. The authors dismiss her, saying that she had left the agency for reasons that neither she nor USDA would divulge (24). But this is either ignorant or intentionally false.
In a written statement Dr. Johnson-Brown said, that:
"While working for the United States Department of Agriculture as the inspector in Oregon for the Federal Animal Welfare Act.... The research institutions I visited, including the Oregon Primate Center, were not happy to see me coming once they realized that I was going to hold them to the law.... More than once, I was instructed by a supervisor to make a personal list of violations of the law, cut that list in half, and then cut that list in half again before writing up my inspection reports... The USDA has little motivation to enforce the already weak laws of the Animal Welfare Act. I was unable to do my job and eventually, out of frustration, I had to quit. I recognize the system is not set up to protect the animals but instead the financial interests of the research labs."
The authors' claim that nothing was amiss at the Primate Center because USDA did not fine the Primate Penter is misleading for another reason as well, when other scientists at the Oregon Primate Center viewed the videos of the capuchin monkeys being used in Dr. Daniel Casey's psychotropic drug studies, even some of them demanded that the experiments be stopped and the animals placed in a sanctuary and given a chance to recover. Twenty-two monkeys made it out alive.
I was very surprised to find a short inaccurate section dedicated to me (27-30). I'm not sure whether I should feel honored or not, but my inclusion and the stories about me are further demonstration of the mythic quality of the tales the vivisectors whisper to each other. Lest I appear too sensitive, I'll point out one typical error that might suggest they know little about their topic. The authors claim that I currently work for the national animal rights organization, In Defense of Animals. I haven't worked there since 2001.
The Animal Research War is the newest entry into the anti-animal literary genre. It adds little of value and will mislead the uninformed. As an example of spin, half-truth, and fallacy, it may be unequaled and thus may have some value as part of a collection of such works.
Finally, the facts . . . May 20, 2008
16 out of 19 found this review helpful
In my Amazon review of Sacred Cows and Golden Geese; The Human Cost of Experiments on Animals, by C. Ray Greek, MD and Jean Swingle Greek, DVM, I commented that "I will leave the scientific exposure of their statements and conclusions to those qualified in these fields. It is my understanding that just such a scholarly rebuttal is currently in the works."
The Animal Research War by P. Michael Conn and James V. Parker is that rebuttal. Hard charging and relentless, the authors tear apart every misquote, every false statement and provide the references to back them up. And, it is considerably more than just a rebuttal of the Greek's diatribe as it provides the history of the animal rights movement and details the excesses and violence of those who buy into the claims of those who say that animal researchers are "vivisectionists" who enjoy torturing and killing animals in the name of science and that no good has ever come from animal research.
One of the major claims by the Greeks and others was that animal research played no part in the development of insulin. Conn and Parker destroy this claim with direct quotes from historian Michael Bliss, author of The Discovery of Insulin, responding to Brandon Reines who wrote a pamphlet for the American Anti-Vivisection Society wherein he cited Bliss's 1982 book as the source for his position. Bliss's reply "Reines' interpretation of my work is thoroughly distorted, wrong-headed and silly . . . . The discovery of insulin in the early 1920s stands as one of the outstanding examples in medical history of the successful use of animal experimentation to improve the human condition"
Additional examples regarding major discoveries include penicillin and polio vaccine, the thalidomide issues, and the potentials of animal research in the development of AIDS treatments.
The book starts out with a Preface and Guide to Words which is important to enlighten those who are used to the emotion laden terms used by the animal rights movement. Appendix A is a list of twenty of the most common questions regarding animal use in research and for those who have trouble finding time to sit down and read the entire book it will be a quick and easy summation of the major issues and their answers. Appendix B is a list of Internet links to both those in favor and those against ethical animal research.
This is an important book on a very important topic that will impact the future of health care for both humans and non-humans. And, it is essentially the only one that deals with the issues in a straightforward and honest manner. Bottom line, we cannot let the animal rights terrorists get away with misstatements, outright lies and acts of violence. The way to win is to through rational argument, real facts and the exercise of critical thinking skills. This book provides the intellectual ammunition to counter the irrational assertions of terrorists.
To those who wrote gushing praise in their reviews of the Greek's book, Sacred Cows and Golden Geese; The Human Cost of Experiments on Animals, I issue the challenge to read The Animal Research War and then write your own review. Demonstrate to the world the extent of your intellectual honesty.
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