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- <text id=91TT1499>
- <title>
- July 08, 1991: American Notes:California
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
- July 08, 1991 Who Are We?
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- NATION, Page 27
- American Notes
- CALIFORNIA
- My Neighbor The Rat
- </hdr><body>
- <p> When the Buck Center for Research in Aging proposed to conduct
- research on rats and other rodents at the $30 million facility
- it plans to build in suburban Marin County, some residents
- sounded the alarm. Animal-rights activists warned that studying
- the beasts would lead to unnecessary cruelty and that the
- laboratory could be a source of dangerous medical wastes. But
- another ominous potential threat, opponents argued, was that
- living near the center might make people feel bad about
- themselves.
- </p>
- <p> Faced with rising protests last week, the county planning
- department warned in a letter to Mary McEachron, administrative
- director of the center, that "social disruption, demonstrations,
- pickets" might occur if the center conducts animal research.
- Such activity, the letter said, could "significantly reduce the
- quality of life and community self-esteem."
- </p>
- <p> Then the planning department ordered the center to pony up
- $6,000 for a report on how the center would impact the
- self-esteem of county residents. Since the report will be
- included in a larger study on the environmental effects of the
- center, it might be called an emotional-impact statement.
- McEachron has another name for it: "Looney Tunes."
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
-