In the news......

A $110,000 reward has been offered for information in an attempted firebombing of UCLA pediatric ophthalmology professor Arthur Rosenbaum's car. City councilman Jack Weiss called the attack "a cowardly and despicable act of terror". It certainly is that. Hopefully the reward will lead to the arrest and conviction of those despicable cowards. I wonder if the cops canvassed the AR2007 convention that was just held in L.A.. Seems like a logical place to start looking.


PeTA's phony medical group, Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine ( PCRM ), has no grounds to sue the City of Chandler, Arizona to stop the contruction of Covance's new facility there, according to the city attorney. PCRM's attorney claimed that this "reflects a decision by city government to exclude its citizens". Not really. Since PCRM is a Washington D.C.-based special interest group, and thus are not citizens of Chandler, it represents no such thing.


A new study coming out of the U.K. suggests that consumption of low fat dairy products may help to ward off metabolic syndrome, a group of risk factors for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. In a study of 2,400 middle-aged British men, those who drank at least a pint of milk a day were 62% less likely to have metabolic syndrome than those who rarely drank milk. Don't expect to here anything about this study from PCRM or other militant vegan/AR groups.


Despite animal rights rhetoric, medical experiments in the U.K. involving animals increased by 4% in 2006, according to this report. The increase shows a use of genetically engineered animals as scientists attempt to unlock the mysteries of the human genome. Hopefully this trend will continue, as such research will be critical in understanding the genetic role of many diseases.


According to new research coming out of Australia, "battery cage hens", long one of ARA's favorite talking points, are no more stressed than their "free-range" counterparts. Scientists measured the amounts of stress-caused hormones in eggs from both caged and free range hens, and found the two to be similar. It would seem perhaps that another AR myth has bitten the dust, but don't count on AR ideologues being persuaded by science.