CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Calls to Stop Animal Research Criticized

Calls to curb or stop animal research are misguided and could cripple attempts to find new treatments for many of society’s most troubling diseases, the American Medical Assn. said. “We are at a critical stage in medical science where, unfortunately, the efforts of a vocal few pose a clear and present danger to the miracles of modern medicine,” said Dr. Richard Corlin, speaker of the AMA’s House of Delegates and president of the California Medical Assn. “Every one of the diseases we are dealing with today, particularly AIDS, cancer, heart disease, a variety of leukemias, we get our treatment techniques proven in animals before they are used in humans over and over again,” Corlin said.