The leading science journal Nature may be starting to realise that it needs to keep a closer eye (forgive the pun when you read the links) on how it reports on animal experimentation. Two letters in the 12th January edition take its reporting to task. The first criticises an article by one of its feature writers as ‘unduly dismissive of experiments on living animals’, and a second ‘is disappointed at the negative tone of your recent News stories “UK animal labs still under siege”...’. This letter continues:

[There] are strong indications that the animal-rights extremist campaign has reached its high-water mark and that the tide is now turning against it. The victory against extremism is there for the taking, but the scientific community must learn to reach up and grab it. That means refusing to be intimidated, standing up for our science and, perhaps most important, staying positive.