Posted by Zebedee under blog's category : Communications & media

The regular column in The Times called 'The Shift', which profiles different jobs, today featured an animal technologist working at pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.

The profile, apart from making it clear that animal technologists are all 'daft about animals' provides an interesting metaphor. It makes a point of saying that the dog facility, unusually, has windows.

In many ways this type of article, this window on animal research, is the best possible answer to those who would paint animal research as torture. Much better to be open and transparent, than appearing to have something to hide.

read more »

Posted by Zebedee under blog's category : Antivivisection & extremism

You could tell it was California in April and not Oxford in February, because the sun was shining. But with a young Englishman working a crowd of several hundred research supporters, there was a strong sense of déjà vu.

It has been said many times that one of the more depressing UK exports is antivivisectionism and animal rights. The animal rights tactics, protests and rhetoric that we see here is echoed elsewhere later. Now, with activists’ use of the Internet, the time lag can be months rather than years.

read more »

Posted by Kanga under blog's category : Communications & media

UK newspapers these days are full of political sleaze, economic woes and minor celebrities. But there is some good news too. Both The Observer and The Sunday Times this weekend carried prominent stories of medical breakthroughs achieved by British scientists.

Nothing unusual in that, but it was interesting to see that both stories credited the animal research that had informed the progress towards the potential human therapies. Even just a few years ago, journalists often referred to 'laboratory tests' rather than reporting fully the part that animal research plays in medical progress. Including a few words about the in vivo research places animal research in context for the general public reading these stories, and helps to normalise it.

read more »