PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

I would like to let my opponent know that I will unmercifully attempt to crush her in this debate. With that said, I'd like to thank you for coming to debate.org and appreciate your creation of this debate. PETA has made many significant contributions which are easily recognizable upon their listing. The Philadelphia Daily News reported, "PETA has done more to lessen animal suffering than nearly any other organization." Stu Bykofsky, "Lioness in Winter. PETA's Ingrid Newkirk Asks for Kindness," Philadelphia Daily News 31 May 2005. Not only have they benefited helpful conservational and environmental issues (depending on your viewpoint), but they also have made possibly one of the biggest positive impacts on animal welfare. PETA first uncovered the abuse of animals in experiments in 1981 and launched the precedent-setting "Silver Spring monkeys" case. This resulted in the first arrest and criminal conviction of an animal experimenter in the United States on charges of cruelty to animals, the first confiscation of abused laboratory animals, and the first U.S. Supreme Court victory for animals in laboratories. •PETA released 70 hours of graphic video footage that documented the appalling treatment of primates at the University of Pennsylvania head-injury laboratory, resulting in government fines and the loss of funding for the cruel study. •PETA's undercover investigation of a huge contract testing laboratory in Philadelphia and our subsequent campaign led to Benetton's permanent ban on animal tests—a first for a major cosmetics company. Other leading companies, such as Avon, Revlon, and Estï¿½e Lauder, followed suit. Gillette announced a moratorium on animal tests after PETA's 10-year campaign. PETA now lists hundreds of companies that do not test products on animals. Please visit CaringConsumer.com for details. •After negotiations with PETA, juice-makers POM, Welch's, and Ocean Spray agreed to stop funding animal experiments. •PETA was victorious over the General Motors Corporation, which ended its use of animals in crash tests. •PETA released investigators' photographs and videotaped footage taken inside Carolina Biological Supply Company, the nation's largest biological supply house. PETA documented that animals were removed from gas chambers and injected with formaldehyde without being checked for vital signs, as well as cats' and rats' struggling during embalming and employees' spitting on animals. The company was charged by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) with violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA). •With the help of celebrities like Ewan McGregor and Martin Sheen; U.S., German, and Canadian government officials; and activists worldwide, PETA was able to secure the release of polar bears who had been suffering for years in the Suarez Bros. Circus. The bears are now recovering and thriving in more appropriate climates. •PETA distributed an undercover videotape that showed Las Vegas casino "entertainer" Bobby Berosini beating orangutans with a metal rod. The U.S. Department of the Interior revoked Berosini's captive-bred-wildlife permit, making it illegal for Berosini to buy or sell orangutans. •An undercover investigation of painful scabies experiments on dogs and rabbits at Ohio's Wright State University led to charges by the USDA of 18 violations of the AWA. The experiments were stopped. •After being pressured by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and PETA, the American College of Surgeons replaced animals with simulations at its training conferences and is now urging medical schools to adopt non-animal training alternatives. •PETA released undercover photographs and videotapes that showed ducks' being violently force-fed on a foie gras farm in New York, resulting in the first-ever police raid on a U.S. factory farm. After learning the gory details of foie gras production, many airlines and restaurants dropped the so-called "delicacy" from their menus. •Undercover investigations at pig-breeding factory farms in North Carolina and Oklahoma revealed horrific conditions and daily abuse of pigs, including the fact that one pig was skinned alive, leading to the first-ever felony indictments of farm workers. •In another precedent-setting case, a California furrier was charged with cruelty to animals after a PETA investigator filmed him electrocuting chinchillas by clipping wires to the animals' genitals. The American Veterinary Medical Association denounced the killing method, saying that it causes animals to experience the pain of a heart attack while they are still conscious. In another undercover exposï¿½, PETA videotaped a fur rancher's causing minks to die in agony by injecting them with weed-killer. Both farms agreed to stop these cruel killing methods. •After exposing the National Air and Space Administration's Bion experiment, in which straitjacketed monkeys were to be implanted with electrodes and then launched into space, PETA succeeded in pressuring the U.S. to pull out of the project. •PETA's undercover investigation of a Florida exotic-animal "training school" revealed that big cats were being beaten with ax handles, which encouraged the USDA to develop new regulations governing animal training methods. •PETA's undercover investigation of Boys Town National Research Hospital's experiments, in which researchers cut into kittens' heads and starved cats in order to study deafness, spurred the National Institutes of Health to issue a report condemning Boys Town's animal care and use program. The USDA found that Boys Town had failed to comply with the AWA. •PETA convinced Mobil, Texaco, Pennzoil, Shell, and other oil companies to cover their exhaust stacks after showing how millions of birds and bats had become trapped in the shafts and were burned to death. •After two years of negotiations and more than 400 demonstrations worldwide, McDonald's became the first fast-food chain to agree to make basic welfare improvements for farmed animals. Burger King and Wendy's followed suit within a year's time, and within two years, Safeway, Kroger, and Albertson's had also agreed to adopt stricter guidelines in order to improve the lives of billions of animals slaughtered for food. •Thanks to PETA's long campaign to push PETCO to take more responsibility for the animals in its care, the company agreed to stop selling large birds in all its stores and to make provisions for the millions of rats and mice in its care. As is easily understood PETA has made huge contributions to animal welfare. I challenge my opponent to prove her resolution that PETA has not only not improved the above stated situations, but have actually worsened them. Any of these accomplishments is easily googled. I would like to thank my opponent for her opening statement and look forward to her proof that PETA has negatively impacted animal welfare. And not only just negatively impacted. But "Done a large amount to harm it". Thank you.