Monkeying with the Facts

I don’t want to belabor Matthew Scully’s critical review of my book A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy, but he continues to mislead readers about a particular experiment described in its pages. Scully initially claimed I supported an experiment that broke the limbs of chimps. When I wrote in reply (“Animal Welfare vs. Animal Rights,” March 22) that I had never heard of such an experiment, Scully referenced pages 74–75 of my book.

I did indeed write about an animal experiment in those pages — the “Silver Spring Monkey Case,” infamous because of animal-rights activists’ nearly successful attempts to stop it. The experiment did not, however, involve the breaking of limbs, but rather a surgical procedure performed under anesthesia. It was NIH-approved research, and led to a tremendous breakthrough in the rehabilitation of stroke patients — Constrained Induced Movement Therapy — that now benefits tens of thousands of stroke patients around the world, and, most recently, children with cerebral palsy.

It seems to me that any discussion of such research should accurately describe the animals used and what was done, and address the tremendous human benefit thereby derived.

Wesley J. Smith Castro Valley, Calif.

On Thin Ice

I have been a subscriber to National Review since at least 1971. Your publication not only was the first, but continues to be what I consider the finest, source of conservative thoughts and ideals.

That said, it concerned me — as I eagerly leafed through the March 8 issue to read one of my favorite columns, Mark Steyn’s “Happy Warrior” — to discover that with a flick of his deft pen Mr. Steyn had seemed to relieve our family company, which makes ice-resurfacing machines, of a long-held trademark by declaring its name, “Zamboni,” a generic noun.

For more than 60 years, the Zamboni brand name has been a valuable trademark, and we diligently protect it. Like “Coke,” “Kleenex,” and “Jeep,” “Zamboni” has a close identity in the public mind with a particular type of commodity — but please remember: A trademark is always an adjective, never a generic noun. “Zamboni” is the brand, and “ice-resurfacing machine” is the generic product name.

Richard F. Zamboni President, Frank J. Zamboni & Co., Inc.