Rosemary

The author claims that chickens do not have a central nervous system and therefore cannot feel pain. ?!?

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http://barometer.orst.edu/vnews/dis...3/3ece3f711b412

Please PETA, you're not fooling anyone


David Williams


PETA members and advocates inhabit the most twisted of moral paradigms.

They compare the slaughter of six million Jews in the Holocaust to killing chickens and even slavery to laboratory testing on rats. Their worldwide membership is nearly 750,000, with some constituting a harmless set of vegetarians and fur ranting individuals.

However, from their actions, agenda, and the quantity of hate mail I received last month, a large majority of their support base embodies a belief system that threatens the sanctity of human existence everywhere. Essentially, their message is so convoluted that any rationale toward humanity and common sense is neglected.

I was encouraged when I read about President Bush's $15 billion AIDS plan for Africa. This charitable donation will begin to help the three million children under the age of 15 who are infected with HIV in Africa. Though it may only give small hope to the 42 million people infected worldwide, it is a step in the right direction.

Nevertheless, I was curious as to PETA's stance on animal testing for HIV. When Ingrid Newark, founder of PETA, was asked what her group would do if animal testing provided a cure for AIDS, she stated, "We'd be against it." Though not surprised in the least by her comments, I find her organization's heartlessness entirely disappointing.

I think today's animal rights activists don't care about the benefits of animal testing for human existence. Thanks to research on rodents, rabbits and monkeys, polio was eliminated. Significant medical research is simply not possible without the use of animal testing in the laboratory.

Even the most sophisticated computer models and instruments in the world cannot insure proper test results in circulatory, organ, muscle, bone and brain systems. Only actual and current observation through animal testing can derive substantial results.

The Americans for Medical Progress organization estimates that animal research has expanded the average human life span by 28 years. The benefits to humans include chemotherapy for cancer patients, antibiotics, organ transplantation techniques and vaccines for many diseases. Furthermore, animals have benefited too through specialized in vitro fertilization techniques to preserve endangered species, treatment for parasites and cardiac pacemakers.

The philosophy behind extreme animal rights activism is scary. Peter Singer, who is considered the father of the modern animal rights movement, argues any creature that feels pain is equal to another that feels pain -- humans included. Hey Peter, did you forget chickens don't have a central nervous system, and therefore, by definition cannot feel pain?

Additionally, Doctor Jerry Vlasak, a strong animal rights activist, wrote about a man whose 5-year old son was having open heart surgery. Vlasak was quoted as saying "the boy's life is no more or less important than any other animal's life, no matter how much [the father's] emotions tell him otherwise."

I don't care if I am called ignorant until the day I die, but I believe -- no, I know -- that human life supercedes any animal's. If someone told me that I had to kill a million rats to save my mother's life I would. I would even be so bold as to kill a million rats to save Singer's life, a person that I do not know. But I probably would not as to spare him the suffering he would face had I committed those homicides.

And, if we have to inject ten million monkeys with HIV before finding a vaccine for AIDS, then it will be worth it. I am not saying that slaughtering animals for fun is okay. I am saying that I draw an arbitrary line of superiority between our species and the rest, and that all life should be respected, but used for the greater good when necessary.

I can honestly say there is no hesitation when I eat a cheeseburger, or tie my leather golf shoes, or pour some milk into my cereal this week. What will give me pause is the fact that wacko animal rights groups are attempting to taint the hearts and minds of Americans.

I am sick of the attention toward protecting lab mice, when millions of people each day wake up hopeless, sick and scared from a disease, and these people have the nerve to marginalize the suffering of an AIDS victim to a mouse in a cage?

Some animal rights theorists claim that not pain, but rather, communication, is the equalizer among all living things. However, some evidence indicates that primitive forms of communication exist in plant species. Do they not have an equal right to live as us? How about a worm? What about an ant? Where does the insanity stop? Quit it PETA, your absurdity is fooling no one.


David Williams is a columnist for The Daily Barometer. The opinions in his columns, which appear every Friday, do not necessarily represent those of The Barometer staff. Williams can be reached at [email protected].

jenzie

I sent off an e-mail to poor, misinformed David Williams.

But I must say, it didn't compare to the message left on the site by Rick Bogle. Oh my! I nearly feel over laughing! Go Rick!

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Cherish yesterday. Dream tomorrow. Live like crazy today.

Rosemary

Here is Rick Bogle's brilliant reply:

San

Why would anyone listen to him when he claims chickens can't feel pain?

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-San