Scientific community must fight misconceptions about experiments using animals: Researchers

In a recent commentary, We must face the threats, in the Journal of Neuroscience, researchers Dario Ringach and David Jentsch spoke out against animal rights extremism. They urged the scientific community to stand together and fight misconceptions about experiments using animals. That their plea has been heard is clear from the unanimously positive response it received on the Faculty of 1000 Biology website.

Faculty of 1000 Biology is an online service where leading researchers from around the world review papers in their field that catch their eye. Faculty members choose the articles they highlight and rarely has a paper received as much attention and praise as this piece on animal rights extremism. Within a week it became the most highly-rated paper of the past few years.

Corrina Darian-Smith of Stanford University calls it "a must read and an inspiration for us all". Murray Sherman of the University of Chicago and Peter K-nig of the Institute for Cognitive Science in Germany both recommend the article for a wider audience than just scientists, K-nig suggesting it become part of school curricula.

Some scientists offered practical advice. Richard Morris of the University of Edinburgh recommends the publication of hard facts about animal research, as has been done in Europe, and Wendy Suzuki of New York University worries that researchers have spent too much time in their ivory towers and not enough time talking about their work: "If we do not do our part in educating the public, we will find the general public against us for all the wrong reasons."