Article Commentary: Commentary on Ulrich: Need to Check Truthfulness of Statements by Opponents of Animal Research

In his commentary, Roger Ulrich (1991) pleads for discussing animal research with wisdom and balance. He also speaks of respecting truth. I agree! In view of the long history of false and extremely misleading statements by opponents of animal research asserting that Pasteur's research had not saved a single human life from rabies (Keen, 1914), that insulin is worthless and in fact harmful (Bliss, 1982), to mention only a few wisdom and balance indicate not repeating the assertions of such opponents without careful checking for their truth. Unfortunately Ulrich repeats some extremely misleading statements. In his almost exact quotation of a frequently made argument by Kaufman (1989) of the Medical Research Modernization Committee (MRMC) that animal research is scientifically questionable, of little value, or even harmful, Ulrich says