From the president's desk . . . July/August 97

How sweet it is

This message will be short but very, very sweet. I just learned that Dr. Edward Taub was named a William James Fellow, the highest honor bestowed by the American Psychological Society, for his research leading to the development of behavioral methods to teach stroke victims how to use their paralyzed arms again. William James was a pre-eminent psychologist so this is high honor indeed. It is also sweet revenge for him and, a bit, for me.

In August of 1981 Ed's lab in Silver Spring, Maryland was subjected to a police raid complete with press conference just as he returned from vacation. The charge: cruelty to the monkeys he used in his research. While he was absent for a few weeks, a young student, Alex Pacheco, later of PETA fame, whom Ed had generously welcomed into his laboratory, brought in night riders to document allegedly filthy conditions. Conveniently, Ed's two caretakers, never before absent together, had not been around to clean during the days before the sneak visits - and Pacheco, unlike any responsible scientist, did not pitch in to clean in their absence.

After the raid Ed was all but abandoned by colleagues as misrepresentations of the conditions of his laboratory and monkeys mounted. No one against him in those dark hours covered themselves with glory. There were misdiagnoses by zoo veterinarians, a post-mortem report withheld by government officials that would have gone a long way to exonerate him, and other actions by officials and the media that sicken me, as one who defended him, to this day - particularly as I write about them.

So, I'll just stop right here with "Congratulations, Ed."

Adrian R. Morrison, DVM PhD
President, NAIA