We, in medical research, have also been unbelievably uncaring.We have allowed the most extreme animal rights protesters to creep in and frame the issue as one of "animal fraud" and hatred.We have persisted in our belief that a knowledgeable public would consent to the importance of animal research for public health.Perhaps we have been mistaken in not responding to the emotional tone of the argument.Perhaps we should have responded to those sad slogans and posters of animals by waving equally sad posters of children dying of cancer or external wounds.In the animal rights forum, much is made of the volume of pain these animals experience in the name of medical science.Activists deny that we are trying to help and say it is evidence of our evil and cruel nature.A more reasonable argument, however, can be advanced in our defense.Life is often cruel to animals and human beings.Teenagers are flung from trucks and suffer severe head injuries.Young children barely able to walk find themselves at the bottom of swimming pools while a parent is occupied with something else.From everyday germs to gang violence, no life is free of pain.
