Three scientists who have used non-human primates in their research—J. David Jentsch, Edythe London and Dario Ringach—have been named to receive the 2011 AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award.

The researchers were honored by AAAS “for their rare courage, their strong defense of the importance of the use of animals in research, and their refusal to remain silent in the face of intimidation from animal rights extremists.”

Jentsch, London, and Ringach took positive steps to combat violent intimidation by extremists, AAAS reported. London, for example, published an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times entitled “Why I Use Laboratory Animals,” after a window was broken and a garden hose was inserted into her home, causing extensive water damage. In claiming credit for the attack, the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) announced that it would have set London’s home on fire except that it was the dry season in Los Angeles and the group did not want to start a wider fire. A few months later, however, a firebomb was set off on London’s front doorstep.

London, a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute, explained in her op-ed that she uses animals to study “how nicotine, methamphetamine or other drugs can hijack brain chemistry and leave the affected individual at the mercy of his or her addiction.” Animal studies “allow us to test potential treatments without confounding factors, such as prior drug use and other experiences that complicate human studies,” she wrote.

Picketers at the home of Jentsch—a UCLA professor of psychology, psychiatry and bio-behavioral sciences who studies schizophrenia, drug addiction and other psychiatric disorders—have accused him of having “blood on his hands.” His car also has been set on fire and destroyed. He has reported receiving messages such as, “I hope you die.” Ringach, a UCLA neurobiology and psychology professor who has studied higher-order information processing in the visual system of primates, was confronted by ALF members who banged on his door and windows in the middle of the night.

Nonetheless, Jentsch and Ringach organized Pro-Test, which garnered 10,000 signatures on a petition emphasizing the significant contributions of animal research to “major advances in the length and quality of our lives.” The researchers held a related rally that attracted 700 faculty members and students. Additionally, they organized a joint meeting with a peaceful animal rights group. Ringach gave an interview on CNN on the value of animals in research.

AAAS has consistently supported the responsible use of animals in research, testing and education. A 1990 statement of the AAAS Board and Council noted, for instance, that “the use of animals has been and continues to be essential not only in applied research with direct clinical applications in humans and animals, but also in research that furthers the understanding of biological processes.” In 2007, the AAAS Board issued a statement deploring the sometimes violent intimidation of scientists who use animals in their research. “AAAS recognizes and supports the right of all citizens to protest and dissent from policies with which they disagree,” the statement said. “On the other hand, unlawful and dangerous actions should not be tolerated.”

The Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award is presented annually by AAAS to honor individual scientists and engineers or organizations for exemplary actions that help foster scientific freedom and responsibility. The award recognizes outstanding efforts to protect the public’s health, safety or welfare; to focus public attention on potential impacts of science and technology; to establish new precedents in carrying out social responsibilities; or to defend the professional freedom of scientists and engineers.

The award was established in 1980 and is approved by the AAAS Board of Directors. The award will be presented at the 178th AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, which takes place 16-20 February 2012.

The awards ceremony and reception will be held in Ballroom B of the Vancouver Convention Centre, West Building, on Friday 17 February at 6:00 p.m.


AAAS was founded in 1848, and the first AAAS Annual Meeting was held that year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Today, AAAS is the world’s largest general scientific society, serving 262 affiliated societies and academies of science, reaching 10 million individuals worldwide. It publishes the journal Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. AAAS, a non-partisan, non-profit association, is open to all and fulfills its mission to “advance science and serve society” through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and other areas.