Prof.Dr.Andreas Kreiter, Head of the Institute of Brain Research at the University of Bremen, has become the target of an absurd hate campaign initiated by animal testing protestors and the victim of a series of public denunciations. The most recent example was a full-page ad in the Weser Kurier, discrediting Prof.Kreiter’s person and research. Just how groundless these attacks are is abundantly illustrated by the numerous misrepresentations contained in the text of the ad, and the large photograph of a laboratory animal that has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the research being carried out at the University of Bremen. This kind of reputation smearing not only affects the person at the center of the attacks but also the whole University. The publication of such vilifying material ultimately also damages the reputation of an otherwise highly respected regional newspaper.
There is a broad consensus within the University for Prof.Kreiter’s research. Not before a thorough prior examination of what the research entails had been carried out, the entire university management and administrative bodies decided to give their full approval. The research is subject to constant control by the public agency responsible for monitoring animal experiments, whose veterinary experts have at no time expressed any reservations. Healthy animals live to an age that is well above-average for their kind living in the wild. In a number of expert opinions, no evidence is to be found of animal suffering. The accusation of “cruelty to animals” is in this case not only false: It constitutes a criminal offence that is for good reason anchored in animal protection law and can lead to criminal proceedings. The experimental facility at the University of Bremen enjoys a high international reputation for the research carried out here, not least due to the excellent environment in which the animals are kept.
The people of Bremen are free to inform themselves about the results of the research being done and to develop their own picture of the experiments involving animals at their University: Emotional rhetoric mixed with misrepresentations will have little impact. The University management would consider it unethical to halt the experiments because they lead to our understanding how the brain functions – and hence to the development of urgently needed therapies for sick persons.
Further information can be obtained by contacting:
Universität Bremen
Pressestelle
Phone: +49 421 218 - 60150
Fax: +49 421 218 - 60152
E-mail: presseprotect me ?!uni-bremenprotect me ?!.de
