Terrorism threatens to close off information about animal research
The Santa Cruz Police Department and FBI are chasing down the people responsible for firebombing a car and a home of UC Santa Cruz researchers on August 2. The attacks have been denounced by anyone with a mouthpiece: UC President Mark Yudof used the words “outrageous and abhorrent,” UCSC Chancellor Blumenthal chose “unconscionable” and “odious,” while Mayor Ryan Coonerty said, “This is not a protest. This is terrorism.” While there’s plenty of communication from leadership and law enforcement, the laboratories themselves have gone on media lockdown. David Feldheim, the researcher whose house was attacked, has made statements to the media about his ordeal, but the university has otherwise chosen to exercise extreme caution about what information is and is not released about the exact nature of the studies that have drawn the irrational ire of an underground vigilante faction. The Animal Liberation Press Office, which has not taken credit nor named a faction willing to take credit for the attacks, nonetheless released an Aug. 3 press release condoning the attacks and spreading misinformation. “The automobile of a vivisector whom police refused to name was completely destroyed,” the release reads—an anonymous source close to the situation confirms to GT that the car destroyed did not belong to someone involved in animal research, and the property was an unfortunate casualty of either mistaken information on the part of the perpetrators, or a deliberate act of random terror against the scientific community as a whole. The release continues, “The damage to the home of animal abuser David Feldheim was limited to a door frame and smoke damage. Feldheim is fond of terrorizing and killing mice in his research.” Feldheim fled his home at the time of the firebombing with his family, including two young children, and injured his foot in the process. Researchers from other campuses such as UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco have privately expressed surprise that the attack occurred in Santa Cruz, given that UCSC performs very little animal research. The bulk of the biomedical research requiring live subjects involves yeast, worms, and fruit flies, with some projects involving mice and rats. No other organisms are currently used at UCSC for scientific research. Feldheim’s studies center mostly around ephrins, which are part of the cell-signalling pathway in animals, and how they affect the central nervous system during development. A study he published this June used adult mice to examine how two different types of ephrin regulate the creation of neurons. The paper reveals that manipulating the ephrins might help heal brain injury or degeneration. “This continued depravity by cruel wannabe scientists simply cannot be justified any longer in a civilized society,” says Jerry Vlasak in the ALPO release. Vlasak is a former surgeon who explicitly stated in the aftermath of the firebombing that Feldheim got what was coming to him. With such heightened criminal activity and rhetoric, Guy Lasnier of the UCSC press office says the time is not right to throw open the doors of the lab for public inspection. “I think there will be opportunities in the future,” he says. “Right now the security of the people doing this really good work is at the forefront. People just need to settle down, frankly.” Bruce Margon, the vice chancellor of research at UCSC, says there are a number of misconceptions out there about the research that goes on at the campus. “A front page article in the Sentinel unfortunately confused and conflated drug and product testing with research,” he says. “Some letters to the editor mention alternatives to animal testing in those cases, but we don’t do product or drug testing here. We’re doing pure scientific research.” He’s not opposed to sharing the step-by-step research techniques of the labs. “There are a lot of places where this could be a confusing and textured field. To me that emphasizes the need for a reasoned dialogue. If people want information, let them ask for it.” However, he echoes the sentiment that now is not the time. “Being an academic is not typically regarded as a physically dangerous profession, but that’s the position we’re suddenly in. It’s a sad reflection of the current state of affairs that it’s not safe to completely release information.” Not that the researchers’ work is completely shielded from oversight. If anything, animal research is the most heavily regulated and inspected activity in academia. Margon says that the regulations start at the federal level on down, with additional rules at the state, university, and campus level. “There’s not some sort of secret backroom decision that is reached in a hidden room on this campus,” he says. “Among other things, a researcher has to show it is not possible to conduct an avenue of research in any other way than using animals.” Local citizens are also involved in oversight, though their identities are protected. Volunteers are culled from the community at large to serve for several years alongside faculty, technical staff familiar with equipment, and an ethicist. There are different committees depending on the needs of the research project—specializing in everything from fiduciary ethics (making sure researchers are in no way financially biased about results) to radioactive materials to lasers … the list is long. For animal research, the university typically reaches out to physicians and veterinarians, as they are most likely to combine a basic level of scientific understanding about the research with a solid sense of the community’s moral and ethical boundaries. Margon believes this community is in tune with the work at the university, and that the aftermath of the bombings has shown that. “One nice thing about the city of Santa Cruz is that it has a politically very aware citizenry with a lot of concern for neighbors,” he says. “We can already see an uprising of emotion that we’re not going to tolerate firebombing in our town. I think what we’re seeing here is classic terrorism—a group of people deciding that their opinion is more important than the law, the democratic process, or even human life—and our town continues to step forward and not tolerate terrorism. The next real approach to this has to be law enforcement. These people will be caught and sent to jail for a very long time, and in a nation of laws, I see no other way.”
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