The Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) is facing yet another expensive and expansive media campaign from anti-research activists, really underscoring the threats currently facing biomedical research and progress in human and animal health. ONPRC conducts vital research, from HIV to age-related conditions to multiple sclerosis, and its range of studies make it truly one of a kind in the western hemisphere. But if you were to listen to the animal rights activists who work day and night trying to shut the primate center down, you wouldn’t know of its great and unique value… or that it had any real value at all. And unfortunately, the activists currently own the conversation on animal research, and to some extent, the purse strings.

We regularly cover the reasons this is so dangerous, so we’ll do our best to keep things brief and minimally redundant. But the fact of the matter is, researchers and the people who support advancements in medical science are rarely their own best advocates. For the most part, they are far more interested in things like improving human and animal health than spending their free time fighting disinformation and debating people – many of whom are congenitally impervious to facts. And on some level, they are probably holding out hope that if they just keep their heads down and work hard enough, their achievements will eventually speak for themselves. That’s a nice, reassuring thought, isn’t it? Unfortunately, given the current cultural and political climate, there may be nowhere left in the United States for researchers to work before too long.

And that’s, well… not good. I mean, really – does anybody with an ounce of foresight think it’s smart and/or moral to outsource vital medical research to foreign countries with lax animal welfare standards that may not have the United States’ best interests at heart? Is it really worth it to slow the development of tomorrow’s non-animal research models (which learn and improve from animal models) so you can pat yourself on the back for banning animal research where you live today? To anybody who is not utterly consumed with an overriding consequences-be-darned ideology, the answer is a resounding no. Unfortunately, that ideology is exactly what drives many of the loudest and most active opponents of animal research. It is the source of their strength. A good, logical debate where you show your proofs and everybody shakes hands afterward just ain’t gonna cut it.