I hate to harp on conservative bias, but the Chronicle of Higher Education homepage surprises me today. Of the campaign to stop academic researchers from using animals, it says:

Many scientists are keeping quiet about their work rather than abandoning it. Some science advocates, concerned about the effects of that silence, are trying to build pro-research activism, based on a model from Britain.

“Science advocates” who are “pro-research,” presumably as opposed to anti-science activists?

This isn’t about science or research generally, but about the use of animals in research. One can support both scientific research and limits on it — I happen to agree the animal-rights crowd is crazy, but that doesn’t make it OK to misrepresent their aims.