Thoughts on AR from the letter column of the Wall St Journal by one George Price. It will never happen of course.
"If the animal rights who attack laboratories to "liberate" the animals... had the courage of their convictions, they would each carry a little card (like an organ- donor card) reading 'If I am found sick or injured, do not give me any treatment developed or tested by animal experimentation. My life is worth no more than an animal's, and I refuse to live at the cost of animal's life. Just let me die.' "
3 comments:
WWWeeeeeeeellllll.....I have actually wrestled with this concept over the years. Like ANYTHING, it DEPENDS on the individual lab or people involved, of course. Some of the selfish, pointlessly cruel, abject lack of empathy for other living things I've personally seen "scientists" and pre-med doctors do to animals in labs have ME wanting to raid some of those places! Yeah, carnivore and pro-hunting(well, again, depending on the individual circumstances and hunters--I've seen my share of "slob" hunters, too) as I am, brutal as I've been on foraging expeditions stealing chickens in my hungry youth, yet I have been APALLED and OUTRAGED at the incredibly UNNECESSARY cruel disrespect for other living things I've witnessed in some labs--I think, Steve and Libby, I related to you before my shocking, heartbreaking experiences touring Yerkes Primate Center years ago--making me 100% behind a "Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes"!!!!! I personally think using animals for research should be allowed IF ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, BUT, respect and humanity MUST be a part of the agenda--and ENFORCED, because so many people involved can be incredibly warped and cruel otherwise, and it is just accepted. I really DON'T want my life extended at such a cost--I REALLY WOULD carry such a card were they available, if the wretched animals utilized to extend my life were anything in conditions and treatment like the wretched ones I witnessed. And I'm not just spouting platitudes--I mean that! I feel that strongly about it. Seeing as how I haven't been to ANY doctor for over 30 years now(I keep MEANING to get a check up....) perhaps for me it is a moot point--I'll likely croak without benefit of modern medicine anyway! And I truly sympathize with everyone who needs/benefits from it. But the "business"(and make no mistake, it IS a business! And money corrupts EVERYTHING!) REALLY needs cleaning up--and public exposure just might help. I can't believe I'm siding(somewhat) with the humaniacs here, but I would have a TEMPORARY alliance with some(as enemy Indian tribes used to occaisionally ally with each other over a bigger enemy) to bring more attention to this issue. And now I will kneel and present my head, as I fully expect to git it chopped off after stateing that here!....L.B.
A scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that I worked with in the 80's used this same type of statement when he discussed AR stuff with the kooks letting animals go and protesting in front of NIH. I still use it to this day. I add this at the end though: "You will not be a problem, because you will all be DEAD!!"
(And I think silently, "I will be glad of if".
And here I thought I was going to provoke a firestorm of commentary with my first response to this! Like I said, I do wrestle with this issue, but I think a BIG, IMMORAL MISTAKE is that people polarize this issue--all laboratory experiments on animals are beneficial and necessary, or they are all bad and should be totally eliminated. No way are things that black-and-white! People that haven't been part of that world--for or against, usually have NO IDEA what all is involved. I personally saw such unecessary cruelty and callousness that I would love nothing better than to kidnap some of those experimenters and put them through some of their own(unecessary just-to-see-what-happens) routines. A lot of people cannot sympathize with white rats or mice, guinea pigs, frogs, turtles, etc.; but you'd think most people could be apalled at least with the "higher" primates, and the beloved familiar dogs and cats so abused. One of the WORST, most OUTRAGEOUS, yet accepted aspects of this multi-billion dollar industry, is the regular kidnapping of peoples' pets to use in research. What are termed "collectors"(quite the lucrative business, too, apparently) go out and steal peoples' dogs right out of their yards--peoples' placid pets are often preferred for easier handling. Sometimes these people get caught, but rarely prosecuted. In one instance I read about, people found out what happened to their beloved animal family members, imprisoned after theft in a local medical facility, and gathered to protest and try to get their animals back. The doctors/researchers there mocked the protesters as being unrealistically overly sentimental and maudlin, and laughed at their anguish. The people never got their pets back, who all died in horrible experiments(I need to find the book title of this and other horrendous stories I read not long ago....) I don't know about any of you, but if some of my beloved dogs were stolen and abused/killed in this fashion,and I knew for certain WHO was responsible at any level, I wouldn't much care WHAT the medical community thought about my "over sentimentality"--there would be HELL TO PAY! If the law didn't help out, by God, Frontier Justice would be utilized!! And I live in an area where this shit happens all the time--ever heard of the "Research Triangle" in North Carolina? Pet theft is off the charts here. Then, on the flip side(yes, I know there is one), you have giants like the incomparably compassionate Albert Schweitzer. But he(and such work) in NO WAY excuses the abuses in this business.......L.B.
Post a Comment