Animal rights terrorists: what every neuroscientist should know.

Introduction The disgraceful, illegal, and immoral tactics used by animal rights activists to forward their agenda have led to the federal government labeling them as domestic terrorists, a very well deserved categorical name. The types of terrorism engendered by these groups are varied, but most recently their most violent and troublesome acts have occurred at the homes of neuro-scientists. Drs. Ringach and Jentsch have detailed many of these terrorist attacks in their accompanying commentary, and I will not review them here. However, do not let the preponderance of violent animal rights activity occurring in California mislead you into thinking that Society for Neuroscience (SfN) members in other states are immune to the situation. These violent acts occur across the country, with researchers in Utah, Connecticut, Oregon, as well as numerous other locales having reported violent attacks at their homes, often in the presence of children. Let us also be clear about the individuals whom they are attacking. These scientists have not just been performing research on animals: all have been performing responsible research on animals, using procedures that have been approved by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUC) of their universities. While these activists' strategy of terrorizing investigators and their families at their homes may be relatively new, these actions and their intent to terrorize are not. The origin of animal rights activism