Green Scare Tactics Return to Santa Cruz

I'm guessing this has something to do with the incidents of vandalism and harassment to university faculty doing biomedical research involving animals.

Sort of reminds me of the anti-abortion protesters I used to see in front of the Women's Health Center on Locust St a few years back. Except these thugs (and make no mistake they're all thugs) are left-of-center rather than Bible-thumping right wingers.

What they have in common is that they're both wrong and both can't handle contrary opinions.

Thanks for waiting so many hours to take those photos.
I remember that a few months after that incident at the University of Washington horticulture center a few years ago, they went into a house of the most verbal or prominent animal-rights people and removed essentially all their possessions, including baby photos. If you had asked local people, off the top of their head, who they suspect, they might have been named because they spoke out at events, internet, zines quite a bit. They ended up charging a completely different and unrelated group.

Why were people wearing masks (bandanas) in the photo titled "Evidence"? Maybe it’s because they are breaking the law? Nice reporting Bradley. It is this kind of reporting/blogging which marginalizes Indybay's importance, and why people will not accept this reporting as viable. Stick to your small level of reporting skills, like drummers at farmers market.
We need good solid reporting, covering all the facts. Not photos from a cell phone, and commentary about name tags on uniforms. Will someone talk to the residents, and find out what really happened….please.

The people in that house better be caught doing something really terrible, or else that was totally out of line. With that kind of action you'd think that the people inside were serial rapists, or major violent drug dealers, or I don't know, something crazy!!!!

Breaking into someone's home and breaking glass when they had a key?!?!?! What?!?!?!

"Protecting and serving our community" Yeah right.

If all that was caused by some kids acting against animal testing then that was a huge fat huge waste of our community's and state's money, and a huge fact act of intimidation to maintain authority.

*fat act, sorry

Hopefully you are able to do some interviews and file a report on indymedia. thanks in advance for your independent journalism efforts!

Wearing a mask does not assume that one has done ANYTHING illegal. That kind of profiling is what gets people killed based on appearance (or race, or gender, or etc...)

The masks were donned when police photographers began snooping around. I find it stupid to have my identity known to a police-force which we were witnessing violate a house and the people inside of it. I felt no safety or security in the society I lived in, watching what was happening to rights activists who organize--the same as the community supporters outside the house that night.

The police hide equally well behind their badges. Where a community member would only be able to follow a cop to his station, a cop could follow a protester right back to her or his home, as we saw on Sunday. As far as I know, if I were asked to show ID and had legit reason to comply, then I would. But I want to stay out of photos and further police intimidation tactics.

The concrete details of this incident are still lacking. Many of us want to hear a lot more about what really happened. That said, let me offer a minor critique of the target selection of a cancer researcher working with mice, which apparently happened a week ago.
There are arguments for working on local rather than global issues, or picking a small goal that meets one's level of skill and resources. At the same time, it is not logical to spend great amounts of energy on problems that should be low priority, given other local issues which objectively rank much higher in the hierarchy of importance. For instance, the vast majority of society does not support many practices of farm animal treatment, yet our tax money is funneled into Dept. Agriculture subsidies for the major grains and livestock production (where a lot of corn is grown for the battery cage hens etc). Moreover, we already have bread shortages in 3rd world countries due to the misguided fuel-ethanol legislation. Santa Cruz county is an agricultural county, even if lettuce is the specialty. Can't you find a local focus which ranks higher than those mice, which would be democratically supported by the majority?
If you look within a 35 mile radius, there are lots of major military manufacturers such as Lockheed, Raytheon, General Dynamics and so forth. Our tax money running these companies is driving the country into debt and is responsible for many deaths. It ranks higher than the mice. If you have the energy, why not figure out a way to stop this development, or find their CEO's house. It is unequivocally worse than medical research. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2004197471_oil24.html


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By Mark Gomez
Mercury News
Article Launched: 02/25/2008 10:53:15 AM PST


Wearing bandannas to cover their faces, a group of men pounded on the front door of a Santa Cruz home Sunday and struck a man who opened the door to confront them.

Santa Cruz police are investigating the incident, which left the man with minor injuries.

"It's unclear what their motive was," Lt. Rudy Escalante said. "They were pounding on the door. The resident was struck by something."

Around 12:50 p.m., Santa Cruz police responded to the city's west side on California Street to reports of six men who were pounding on the front door of a residence. The man told police he had secured his wife and children in the back of the home, then went to the front of the house to investigate. When it appeared the door might break open, the man opened it and confronted the group, according to police.

The man, who was struck by an object, fended off the attackers, according to police. The group of attackers fled in a vehicle.

Police obtained a description of the vehicle from a witness and served a search warrant for a residence in the 700 block of Riverside Avenue. Police found several items of evidence related to the investigation. Five people were home when the warrant was served, but no arrests were made, Escalante said.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Santa Cruz police TIP LINE at (831) 420-5995.

Why should police need to follow a process or get warrants before entering people's homes? I thought they were exempt from all oversight and do not have to abide by laws... those are for the poor! Come to think of it, laws are also for those who resist our Great Way of Life here in AMERICA™. Those commie wankers had it coming. I hear they even wore masks to protect their identities so the honorable police and federal agents couldn't profile them and start political intelligence files on them. Some said they even had the audacity to wear dark colored clothing! How dare they protect themselves from the State!? Pinko... wait no... what is it now... TERRORIST scum go back to Russia! Only patriotic Americans like me and the Police belong in Santa Cruz. Where senator McCarthy (God Bless™ his soul) when we need him most? 'Freedom' is slavery! Ignorance is strength!

The War on Terrorism has come home. Corporations and politicians are labeling activists "eco-terrorists" and national security threats. Think red-baiting, with a green twist. Here you'll find original reporting and analysis of the Green Scare, and history repeating itself.

http://www.greenisthenewred.com

unfortunately, myths, lies, excessive use of force by police, scare tactics, etc etc have been used in every event that activists have gained power to change existing policy of the government.

Oh, this is journalism at its finest (insert sarcasm here)... "According to somekid"........ hahahaha - this is rich. ....because you know, "somekid" a very reliable source and it's also spelled incorrectly.

It would behoove the "students" to get an education rather than commit violent crimes against animals; humans are animals too, are they not?

Group attacks man at the front door of his Santa Cruz home
By Mark Gomez
Mercury News

Wearing bandannas to cover their faces, a group of men pounded on the front door of a Santa Cruz home Sunday and struck a man who opened the door to confront them.

Santa Cruz police are investigating the incident, which left the man with minor injuries.

"It's unclear what their motive was," Lt. Rudy Escalante said. "They were pounding on the door. The resident was struck by something."

Around 12:50 p.m., Santa Cruz police responded to the city's west side on California Street to reports of six men who were pounding on the front door of a residence. The man told police he had secured his wife and children in the back of the home, then went to the front of the house to investigate. When it appeared the door might break open, the man opened it and confronted the group, according to police.

The man, who was struck by an object, fended off the attackers, according to police. The group of attackers fled in a vehicle.

Police obtained a description of the vehicle from a witness and served a search warrant for a residence in the 700 block of Riverside Avenue. Police found several items of evidence related to the investigation. Five people were home when the warrant was served, but no arrests were made, Escalante said.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call the Santa Cruz police TIP LINE at (831) 420-5995.

What ever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty'? Do none of you individuals, who seem to at least partially care about laws, not see a problem with declairing these individuals as guilty without any evidence besides one san jose newspaper, plus a re-reading of it from the sentinel?

From what I gather a group of activist, acting very much like terrorist seemed intent on a home invasion of a family’s house. One of the activists apparently made the mistake of using their own car and the police found out where the activist lived. The police then went to judge and obtained a search warrant in an apparent attempt to identify the suspects of what most (myself included) consider a very serious crime. Why the police broke a window when they had a key is unknown; perhaps the door was bolted from the inside. Anyway the police served the warrant, apparently obtained the evidence they were looking for and no one got hurt. Can some one please explain to me what all the hubbub is about.

You're posting old news. If you had read through this thread (one any of the others) people have already posted this article.

"Oh, this is journalism at its finest (insert sarcasm here)... "According to somekid"........ hahahaha - this is rich. ....because you know, "somekid" a very reliable source and it's also spelled incorrectly."

So you are anymore reliable? Get over yourself; some people spell Suzanne with an 's' in the middle. You have no more authority than anyone else here--we are all posting comments in the same method.

"It would behoove the "students" to get an education rather than commit violent crimes against animals; humans are animals too, are they not?"

I posted earlier, that I seriously doubt that Animal Rights activists, who protest for the rights and safeties of all animals, would condone violence in any form, as violence intends to damage another being. I also seriously doubt that any violent conduct was initiated by these non-violent protesters. Protesting Animal Rights by violent means would be comparable to fighting "terrorism" by killing people...(Suzanne, add some sarcasm right here...)

I've heard of no violent measures ever taken in protests regarding Animal Rights, and definitely have never heard of a death involved. If the mind-set is non-violent, then I don't see how this clicks.

Keep in mind the statement about alleged violence has its root in a San Jose corporate newspaper. This is everyone's source thus far.

First hand account from a neighbor, on this website. She states that activists were antagonizing the police, not visa versa. She says that an activist belly-bucked a cop, which was the instigation for the arrival of more cops and the closure of the street.

She also says that she and 6 other neighbors will state as much in deposition if necessary.

So now that's:

-One professor claiming he was assaulted.
-7 neighbors saying that the activists were the ones trying to set off a spark on Riverside street.
-Two newspapers with accredited and named writers stating that a home invasion with assault and vandalism occured.



But you are telling me that it's all a setup by the fascist police state and no witnesses other than one corporate newspaper in San Jose? (And what does San Jose have to do with it anyway? Or are you just hoping that that further discredits the source via guilt by location?).

And why, I wonder, would I consider you or somekid a more credible resource of information than a corporate newspaper? Are you suggesting that their agenda is more obvious than yours?

One thing I do know for fact: the computer records and other items confiscated are going to shed a lot of light on this situation.

"One thing I do know for fact: the computer records and other items confiscated are going to shed a lot of light on this situation."

If this search is found constitutional, a crime charged, and the evidence permitted in court--yes, I agree.

all of you liberals make me fucking sick, the animal researcher obviously deserves what he gets, if you havent looked into vivisection and are commenting, shut youre fucking mouth

go vote for obama and live you feel good revolution

pieces of shit

Yeah, I've looked into "vivisection" and its a word tossed around by ignorant little twerps such as yourself who really don't have a clue about what you are talking about, but are so smug in your arrogant ingnorance that talking to you is a waste of time.

I've heard a scientist's report that 30 years of cancer research on lab mice has only proven to find cures to cancer for those lab mice, with no benefits at all to human beings. I would need to dig around to find this source but I feel other people have read or seen this same interview and may know its origins better than me.

As for vivisection, Back At Ya, your statements make you come off as a cruel jackass who feels that only humans are deserving of life.

Vivisection literally means the cutting into or otherwise invasive experimentation upon a living animal (from latin; vivus). Go google or youtube search for vivisection. I don't think there's anything arrogant or smug in protesting against these acts of cruelty.

Geez. It's sort of lucky and surprising that the UC police haven't recruited a fellow student already to sit in animal rights student organizations and guest-speaker events and copy down the attendance list.

Without animal testing, my wife would not have lived past 2 years old. Thank you to the dogs that died so that my wife could live.

"Student Activist" wrote,

"I've heard a scientist's report that 30 years of cancer research on lab mice has only proven to find cures to cancer for those lab mice, with no benefits at all to human beings."

Wow. You've "heard"? "A scientist"? With hearsay that flimsy, do you really feel justified in pretending that you know enough about biomedical research?

"I would need to dig around to find this source..."

The source for real scientific judgments is the data, not anyone's opinion.

"... but I feel other people have read or seen this same interview and may know its origins better than me."

So those who agree with you have an equally flimsy basis for doing so. That figures.

"Vivisection literally means the cutting into or otherwise invasive experimentation upon a living animal (from latin; vivus)."

Yes, but what you're too ignorant and filled with hate to comprehend is that the vast majority of research animals aren't subjected to vivisection by that definition.

"Go google or youtube search for vivisection."

Why? We can see that Bradley has fudged the definition to "Experimentation upon living animals" in the story you're commenting on!

"I don't think there's anything arrogant or smug in protesting against these acts of cruelty."

You haven't shown the slightest knowledge that the acts of the researcher constituted cruelty. Hell, I use THOUSANDS of mice in experiments (not vivisection) that YOUR movement classifies as "non-animal alternatives" because the actual experiments are done in vitro on cells from those mice. Note that even if I tortured those mice to death (I actually euthanize them painlessly) and your idiotic, hatemongering movement would still call the experiments "non-animal alternatives." You see, your movement is composed of people who love false choices, because making complex things look black-and-white is the primary tool used by people who sell hate.

Given that abject stupidity and dishonesty, I hope you can see why I have such contempt for people who can't be bothered to look at evidence. You're no different than a right-wing creationist.

I live AT 724 Riverside Ave. in the back in a separate unit. I left and came home and was not able to go into my house till an hour or 2 after I came home that night. I was pissed. I didn’t feel good. Hadn’t had dinner and my blood sugar was in a really bad state. I was tired, and had other complications with my health that were bothering me. I was not happy. But there were a lot of other reasons I was disturbed by that night. Yeah the police were in some wrongs. I can clearly state that I feel that, given the circumstances, that was EXTREMELY unnecessary. I don’t really know the details of what happened previous to the cops showing up to the property, I’ve heard it had to do with animal rights? Well honestly that’s the 1 controversial topic that I HAVE made up my mind about. To me I don’t understand how someone can justify testing on animals. How someone can sacrifice another creature so to save a human life, yeah maybe someone can justify it. But in my book, I cant. Humans are no better than any other life form; we are all apart of this circle and world. Making it breathe, move and grow. My point of all that being, I am passionate about standing up for what is right. So, back to Riverside. My problem with that night was not only the cops reminding me of our flawed system but, many of the students as well. I can deal with being angry and disappointed with the cops, but it hurt me to see how some of our students were handling the situation. In my opinion, I did not see good or anything productive out of yelling, chanting, antagonizing, and showing such hostility towards the cops. In Fact that is probably what drew even more cops to the scene. I feel that reacting in that way just lowers you to their level, or at least close to it. Observing the situation, I felt many people were looking for things to be angry and hateful about. At one point as I was sitting on the side of the next-door neighbors yard, I herd one student/man speak to this neighbor’s friend who was watching from the porch, all the commotion. He asked this man if it was his home. And when the man said no, and questioned why, the student replied that if it was, he could tell the officer standing in the yard to get off. At this point I yelled to the student one of my only comments the whole night, “what good would that do????” What good would that do?!? I feel that if we really want to make positive change and stand up for ourselves, we need to do it maturely, responsibly, and show to the world that we are not just a bunch of extreme, out of control kids. I would think we want to represent strength and positivity in what we feel is right. To be open to finding a solution that will work and flourish, not anger and easy assumptions. That hate is selfish and helping no one. Our worlds problems are all based on hate. It is so much easier to hate, and judge and assume the worst than to be strong and open. If you are going to fight hate with hate you are no better than what you are fighting. I’m still troubled by what happened that night. I heard people saying there was no warrant; well I saw a copy of the warrant. Supposedly the reason they broke down the door was because the key they were given didn’t work. Maybe it didn’t? I was also told that the reason the situation was taken so seriously was because it involved a stalking/harassment which in our law system is considered a felony. I hope people can see that my stereotyping the police is just as bad as Racism? Again I do not agree with how it was handled by the cops AT ALL and I am not excusing them. But let’s step up as students and people and be better than that. Let’s know what we are upset about before jumping to conclusions and reacting to impulsive emotions. Let’s fight this the right way and give protests and standing up against corrupt issues a good name. Lets change the way our parents generations and before have handled life and hard situations. Let’s not learn those bad habits of anger and hate. Please hear this for what it is. I’m sorry for everyone who was personally involved and my neighbors up front who had to deal with a fucked up day and night. Take care everyone.
Love, Sarah

I am sorry to hear that you were caught up in all that mess. Especially since you were not feeling well. Thank you for taking the time to post a report!

Project I: Neural Development

A central question in developmental neurobiology is how neurons and their axons migrate in response to a variety of attractive and repellent guidance cues. Often, an axon follows a complicated trajectory using multiple guidance cues en route to its final destination. Netrin1 is an example of such a cue and it is bifunctional, either attracting or repelling axons depending on the expression of cell surface receptors. Two vertebrate families of Netrin1 receptors have been identified: the Deleted in Colorectal Cancer (DCC) family, comprising DCC and Neogenin1; and the UNC5 family, comprising UNC5A-D. The DCC family mediates attraction to Netrin1 while the UNC5 family mediates repulsion by forming a Netrin1 dependent complex with DCC.

We have focused on understanding Netrin1 signaling as it is mediated directly through its repellent UNC5 receptors. We identified a number of candidate signal transduction proteins in a yeast two-hybrid screen. One candidate is PICK1 (Protein Interacting with C Kinase 1), a PDZ protein that acts as an adaptor for PKCa. Using a variety of protein trafficking assays, we discovered that phosphorylation of UNC5A by PKCa results in its selective endocytotic internalization, leaving DCC on the cell surface. When this occurs in a Netrin1 gradient, a repulsive response is converted to attraction. Currently, we are investigating how growth cones are steered using this mechanism by identifying the signals that activate PKCa.

A second candidate identified in our yeast two-hybrid screen is MAGE-D1 (NRAGE), a pro-apoptotic signaling protein. We have shown that it regulates neural number during spinal cord development by mediating UNC5A-induced cell death of spinal accessory motoneurons. Characterization of Mage-d1 knock-out mice are underway as we further investigate how this apoptotic signaling pathway sculpts the developing nervous system.

Project II: Mammary Gland Development

“Axon” guidance cues were discovered in the developing nervous system, but research in my laboratory and others has shown that these cues are versatile, functioning in many different tissues and organs. We have investigated the role of Netrin and Slit families of guidance cues in the developing breast (mammary gland), a tree-like, bi-layered structure composed of an outer layer of myoepithelial cells and an inner layer of luminal epithelial cells. We discovered that Netrin1 and Slit2 are expressed throughout the breast, but expression of their receptors Neogenin1 and Robo1, respectively, are restricted to the outer layer of myoepithelial cells. Loss of any one of the genes encoding these proteins results in modest tissue disorganization, but compound loss of both Netrin1 and Slit2 leads to generalized loss of adhesion between myoepithelial and luminal epithelial cell layers. These results establish a new function for Netrins and Slits in generating adhesive contacts between layers of epithelium during organ morphogenesis. We are currently elucidating the signaling pathways mediated by Robo1 receptors in myoepithelial cells, and investigating a role for Slits as breast tumor suppressor genes.



Selected Publications
*Williams M.E., *Lu, X., *McKenna, W., Boyette, A., Washington, R., Tessier-Lavigne, M., Hinck, L. UNC5A promotes neuronal apoptosis during spinal cord development independent of netrin-1. Nature Neuroscience, 2006: 9(8): 996-998.

*Bartoe, J., *McKenna, W., Quan, T., Stafford, B., Moore, J. A. Xia, J., Takamiya, K., Huganir, R.L., Hinck, L. PICK1/PKC-mediated endocytosis converts netrin-mediated repulsion to attraction. Journal of Neuroscience, 2006: 26(12): 3192-205.

*Strickland P., *Shin G., Plump A., Tessier-Lavigne M., Hinck L., Slit2 and Netrin1 act synergistically as adhesive cues to generate tubular bi-layers during ductal morphogenesis. Development, 2006: 133(5): 823-32.

*Williams M. E., *Wu C.-Y., *McKenna W., Hinck, L. Surface expression of the netrin receptor UNC5H1 is regulated through a PICK1/PKC-dependent mechanism. J. Neuroscience 2003: 23(36): 11279-11288.

Williams, M.E., Strickland, P., Watanabe, K. and Hinck, L. UNC5H1 induces apoptosis via its juxtamembrane region through an interaction with NRAGE. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2003: 278(19): 17483-90.

*Srinivasan, K., *Strickland, P., Valdes, A., Shin, G.C. and Hinck, L. Netrin-1.neogenin interaction stabilizes multipotent progenitor cap cells during mammary gland development. Developmental Cell, 2003: 4; 1-20.

*Hong, K., *Hinck, L., Nishiyama, M., Poo, M-m., Tessier-Lavigne, M. and *Stein, E. A ligand-gated association between cytoplasmic domains of UNC5 and DCC family receptors converts netrin-induced growth cone attraction to repulsion. Cell, 1999: 97: 927-41.

*Leonardo, E.D., *Hinck, L., *Masu, M., Keino-Masu, K., Ackerman, S. L. and Tessier-Lavigne, M. Vertebrate homologues of C. elegans UNC-5 are candidate netrin receptors. Nature, 1997: 386: 833-838.

Keino-Masu, K., Masu, M., Hinck, L., Leonardo, E.D., Chan, S. S-Y., Culotti, J. and Tessier-Lavigne, M. Deleted in colorectal carcinoma (DCC) encodes a netrin receptor. Cell, 1996: 87: 175-185.

.

*denotes equal contribution

Animal rights protesters charged with federal crimes, who never laid a hand on a person or went to a house.

"All of the defendants were charged with conspiracy to violate the Animal Enterprise Protection Act, a never-before-applied 1992 statute. Kjonaas, Gazzola, Conroy, and Harper were also charged with conspiracy to harass using a telecommunications device (sending black faxes). Kjonaas, Gazzola, Conroy, and SHAC USA were charged with conspiracy to commit interstate stalking and three counts of interstate stalking via the Internet."

"Specifically, these activists are alleged to have operated a website that reported on and expressed ideological support for protest activity against Huntingdon and its business affiliates. For this they are charged with "terrorism" and face an aggregate of 23 years in Federal Prison."

http://www.shac7.com/case.htm



I wonder what the FBI is going to find in the cell phone and computers they've confiscated?

One of the things that really bothers me is that now all activists in Santa Cruz will be grouped together with this small, violent group of so-called activists. Activism does not require violence.

Now the SHAC 7 is going to start becoming associated with violence, if these people were so supportive why create a bad image for those they are trying to help? It's not very effective. Now other non-violent animal rights activists are going to become associated with actions such as what happened on Sunday. If I was one of them I would be pissed.

If you condemn these violent actions, just like others and I do, please remember that there are activists out there who are committed to non-violent methods. For the love of God/nature/Allah/etc do not put us all in the same bag.

I agree with the comment above. All of this commotion puts a definite dampening effect on anyone who wishes to do normal activism, or even show up at a meeting on campus. Can I visualize going to a regular evening meeting when I know that federal police are swarming the campus, trying to find a list of suspects? I'd almost rather plug into stuff happening in San Francisco.

By the way, some of those SHAC people who are in jail used very bad decisionmaking. For example, some (Harper?) would both make prominent speeches encouraging people to stop being 'all talk and no action', and they would name a specific target (Huntingdon and their customers), and then the same individual would actually participate in illegal damage against them. I don't support their campaign at all, but just to bring up the legal issue, 'conspiracy' is a felony which is defined as planning an illegal act ahead of time and then committing it. Someone who wants to be a loud public talker should be very careful to never act. With SHAC, the FBI also liked to raid their houses and take all their stuff http://www.seattleweekly.com/2004-06-09/news/a-suspect-roundup.php

Consider the following:

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) tested 12 anti-cancer drugs (on mice) that are currently being used successfully in humans. The scientists studied mice that were growing 48 different kinds of human cancers and treated them with the 12 drugs. They found that 30/48 times, the drugs were ineffective in the mice. In other words, 63 percent of the time, the mouse models with human tumors inaccurately predicted human response.

In a study that spanned over ten years and has not yet been repeated, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began in 1976 to follow all the new medications it released for side effects. In that study, the FDA found that out of 198 new medications, 102 (52 percent) were either recalled or relabeled secondary to side effects not predicted in animal tests.

A similar study examined six drugs, the side effects of which were already known in humans. The study found that animals correctly predicted 22 side effects, but incorrectly identified 48 side effects that did not occur in humans, while missing 20 side effects that did occur in humans. This means that the animal models were incorrect 68/90 times, or 76 percent of the time.

In August 2001, Mark Levin, Ph.D. and CEO of Millenium Pharmaceuticals, presented data at the Drug Discovery Technology Conference in Boston, MA regarding the inadequacy of current animal models in drug testing.

In the study he presented, 28 potential new drugs were tested in rats for liver toxicity. Eleven of these drugs were shown to be toxic, while 17 were shown to be safe. Twenty-two of the 28 potential drugs advanced into human clinical trials, and the results revealed that of the 11 drugs that had been shown to be toxic in rats only two were toxic in humans, while six were safe. Of the 17 drugs that were safe in rats, eight were found to be safe in humans, while six were found to be toxic to humans.

Levin concluded that this basically means the animals were about as accurate as "a coin toss."

28 Drugs Tested for Hepatotoxicity

*
17 were safe in rats
*
11 were toxic in rats

22 Advanced to Testing in Humans

Of the 17 that were safe in rats:

*
8 were safe in humans
*
6 were toxic in humans

Of the 11 that were toxic in rats:

*
2 were toxic in humans
*
6 were safe in humans

Researchers are not just looking at cancer. They are looking at many other diseases and conditions that animal use can and does provide valuable information. Also research with animals can show researchers the first step toward a human application of their findings. It isn't always a direct link.

do i believe you?

Heads or Tails we all believe what our experience and education tells us to be true. Having been in the scientific field for a very long time (support not research) I have had an oppourtunity to watch how the process works. Pepole are correct when they say that often what cures a disease in a mouse has no effect in humans. But, it can show researchers hos the process works anf they then can move on to figuring out how to adapt the cure for humans. The truth of the matter is that a large number of us would not be alive if not for animal research. I am not just talking about the big diseases like cancer and diabetes. Little things like the flu, measles, smallpox, rubella, and a biggy polio have all been mostly erradicated due to cures developed by animal testing. Animal research is leading scientists towards new breakthroughs to improve the human condition everyday.