It’s been a year since the Halls announced that they would close Darley Oaks, and the past 12 months have witnessed many changes for the better as discussed in an article by Stephen Pincock, ‘Research winning war with extremists, says group’, The Scientist, 23rd August 2006.

As with many online articles, comments may be submitted and I was bored by the same old drivel being spouted by the same old people: Andre Menache (Animal Aid, humiliated on the Oxford Gossip chat forum); Chris Pedler (British Anti-Vivisection Association); Pat Rattigan (British Anti-Vivisection Association as well as an HIV, Sept 11, and Moon Landings sceptic according to his website).  As usual all made false claims about the scientific validity of animal research and other unsupported statements:

Pat Rattigan [Comment posted 2006-08-25 14:17:54]
… However, we are treated to liberal doses of opinions, slogans, mantras : ‘most doctors believe’, ‘most scientists agree’, ‘the general public is of the opionion [sic]’, ‘Nobel Prizes have been won’, ‘most major medical advances have relied upon animal [sic]’, etc., etc, : all easily-refuted waffle.

If it was so easy to refute these statements, then you would have thought that Pat would have done so, but no: he finishes his entry there!  Guess he’s still looking for a conspiracy to counteract what everyone else knows to be true:

‘most doctors believe’ and ‘most scientists agree’ – as shown by the RDS Declaration, support for Pro-Test, and by the increasing number of doctors and scientists speaking out in the media.

‘the general public is of the opinion’ – as shown by Pro-Test, the People’s Petition, recent opinion polls, and support for medical research charities.

‘Nobel Prizes have been won’ – well, yes, that’s pretty easy to check, 70% of Nobel Prizes for Physiology or Medicine have relied heavily on the use of animals with prizewinners such as Albert Sabin (inventor of the polio vaccine) stating unequivocally that they could not have made such scientific advancements without the use of animals.

‘most major medical advances have relied upon animal[s]’ see again the polio vaccine, as well as transplants, insulin, HIV treatments (see second half of Monkey Business blog) etc etc

We’ve come to expect rubbish from the usual suspects; but what of newer blood in the AR movement?

lisa everton [Comment posted 2006-08-28 16:09:46]
when I was a little girl, only two things sent me scrambling behind the sofa. One was Darlicks [sic], the other was Nazis. Both of these liberally used the word: “exterminate”. I hated that word then, as now. I also hate the word “undulate”, used to describe how the ground looked, what with gasses rising from mass Nazi graves. Listen to this word: “Vivisection”. What sort of horror and evil does a word like that conjure up? I HATE the word vivisection, which describes perfectly the horrors which are associated with it. Please God, some one get those animals out of there! It doesn’t matter what the cost, or what it takes. Vivisection must be squashed, for the sake of humanity, and the animal kingdom. Thank you.

metal_chick1 [Comment posted 2006-08-28 16:13:09]
All those people in favour of animal testing should just imagine something for 1 minute. Think about ur lives now, how wonderful n free you are, you can say, do n eat what you want.

Imagine being stolen from your home, waking up in a cold, steel and tiny cage where you cannot even stand up in. Looking out at the teasing faces of those you put you there making sure you’re still fit for suffering. Day after day you are condemed for moving, put in a metal chair like that used by executioners and have the screws tightened to make ur delicate skull crack. Tubes forced down ur throat n nose, 2 people holding you down. Botox injected into ur little eyes. It would be torture n fear day after day after day. Put yourselves in their position, stop being selfish, I believe that nothing justifies that level of suffeirng, not even science. I would not want medicines if this is what has been done to get them. Thank-you

It’s quite obvious metal_chick1 has never even had a lab described to her by someone that’s seen one, let alone viewed one herself!  As for lisa everton‘s mental association for ‘undulate’, I always thought it was quite a nice word, conjuring images of England’s gently rolling fields!

If such ridiculous ramblings as these specimens are the future of the AR movement, then it should be a short-lived one.  We can only hope; because countering this same old rubbish is getting a little tedious.