PETA’s solutions worse than the problems

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has pulled a ton of publicity stunts over the years. When the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile hit the road to find a new child singer, a PETA employee dressed in a pig costume and commandeered the Wienermobile. It launched an ad campaign comparing what happens in slaughterhouses to the horrendous crimes committed by Jeffrey Dahmer. In addition to dumping red paint onto fashion runways or unsuspecting wearers of fur, PETA dumped a ton of manure on chef Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant doorstep after he served horse meat on his television show.

It is an admirable effort to give a voice to animals who are often mistreated or killed to grant the comforts or frills of humanity. The majority of people want to see that soft, furry baby seals grow up with a mother and that lab rats aren’t unnaturally mutated.

Although the freedom to voice your opinion is part of what makes America great, the ground rules of respect and fairness need to be followed. PETA’s latest campaign targeting the U’s animal research facilities last fall breaks the rules.

The U was charged for allowing its animals to suffer and die from experimentation and gross neglect. Unfortunately, PETA obtained this information from an undercover employee who misrepresented herself to her employer and went to great lengths to produce emotional propaganda that was taken out of context.

The PETA complaint led to a pending investigation by the USDA and changes in state law that now give municipal animal shelters the discretion as to whether or not they sell animals to be used for research purposes. Previously, they were required under law to sell animals to research labs—upon request—for testing. This in turn has slowed the supply of animal test subjects for the U’s research lab and will lead to increased research costs when it must turn to other suppliers. Congratulations, PETA, you were able to dishonestly push your agenda at the expense of ever considering the bigger picture.

Without animal research, there are no new antibiotics, no vaccines, no transplants and no new medical advances that keep people—and animals—alive and healthy. Tom Parks, U vice president for research, said the “undercover footage was edited to show only the worst scenarios in the lab’s recent history and is not indicative of any systemic problems with the institution.”

Most interesting is that the PETA employee worked at the lab during a period when they passed an unannounced annual federal investigation with no problems. Clearly, when you maintain a community of 50,000 lab rats, there will be mistakes made and some will die. The U is not above making errors and it has committed to carefully examine the PETA allegations and address each complaint. It is in the U’s best interest to keep its animals healthy so accurate data points can be collected. Meanwhile, animal labs now face the ever more attractive option of simply breeding their own lab animals—PETA’s hope to completely remove animals from U labs is a pipe dream.

No one likes having the spotlight turned on them and being told they have a booger hanging out their nose. PETA bombarded the U with strong accusations and demanded it respond in the public forum. If the game had been played fairly, this should have taken place only after the U was made aware of the accusations and given time to respond accordingly.

http://www.dailyutahchronicle.com/opinion/peta-s-solutions-worse-than-the-problems-1.2226681