Almost everyone at some time receives medical care that improves the quality of life, extends it or even saves it. Health care is effective because the underlying causes of diseases are understood, often because treatments have been developed and tested on experimental animals. Our children are protected from polio by animal research. The veterinary care of our pets and farm animals, too, has benefited from experimental work on animals. But the development of new treatments for humans and animals here in Madison is being threatened by the actions of animal rights activists, notably People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and their subsidiary, the Alliance for Animals.
(Oertel and Lipton are both professors in the UW-Madison Department of Neuroscience. The column was written by them on behalf of 65 UW-Madison faculty members.)