IN SEPTEMBER 2001 the Coulston Foundation's White Sands Research Center in Alamogordo, New Mexico, was set on fire. The fire severely damaged the laboratory, causing a million dollars' worth of damage to the building and equipment, while animals and humans were not harmed. The White Sands Research Center is a not-for-profit biomedical research laboratory that conducts research on chimpanzees to confirm the safety of new vaccines for humans. The Animal Liberation Foundation (ALF), an extremist animal rights group, claimed responsibility for the fire. They, like most animal rights organizations, believe that experiments using animals are immoral.

Animal research is a highly charged issue because both animal and human lives are at stake. Each year millions of animals die in labs as a result of research projects, while millions of human lives are saved by the vaccines, medications, and medical procedures that are developed...