Sir

I am disappointed at the negative tone of your recent News stories “UK animal labs still under siege” (Nature 438, 716; 2005) and “Animal-rights militancy exported to US and Europe” (Nature 438, 717; 200510.1038/438717a). The situation in the United Kingdom is indeed serious, but not nearly as grim as you suggest.

UK Home Office figures for 2003 and 2004 show that the number of animal experiments in this country is rising slightly, and since then at least two additional large-scale transgenic-animal laboratories have opened. We are all aware of the setbacks, but the overall picture is hardly that of animal research being driven out. It is true that animal-rights groups have won a few victories in Britain during the last few years, but they have done so at the cost of alienating the vast majority of the general public. A recent ICM opinion poll (see http://www.icmresearch.co.uk/reviews/latest-polls.asp) indicates that a clear majority of UK adults support the use of animals for medical research. During the past decade — which has seen animal-rights extremist campaigns of unprecedented scale, ferocity and sophistication — public and media support for the use of animals in research has in fact increased significantly.

The University of Oxford, with the support of the UK government and the overwhelming support of its own student body (http://www.cherwell.org/show_article.php?id=3868), is willing to face down the extremists.

These 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.