From: russ@wpg.com (Russell Lawrence)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.animals
Subject: Re: CBS's "60 Minutes" damns PeTA
Date: 25 Jan 93 18:50:38 GMT
Organization: WP Group

From article <1k0a79INNl54@geraldo.cc.utexas.edu>, by alexpace@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Alex L. Pace):
> 
> Tonight's edition of 60 Minutes offered a particularly grim view of the
> PeTA zealots.  It seems that a doctor that has made great strides in
> treating brain injuries, by way of experimentation on cats, has had his
> funding stopped because this wacky special intrest group incessantly
> pestered their congressman.  The doctor is a reserve in the Army and was
> actually able to use some of the techniques he learned from cats to save
> soldiers in the Gulf War.  

Please specify the techniques so that we can ascertain that they stemmed
from Carey's research, rather than prior research.

> One soldier even went on film saying that he
> would not be alive today if it wasnt for the good doctor.  In my opinion,
> we could kill all of the domestic cats in the country if that research
> leads to the saving of just one young man who is injured in service to the
> rest of us.  

First, let's find out if the cat research truly helped the doctor to save
this soldier's life.

> 60 minutes really pegged these PeTA freaks for what they are and exposed
> their technique of trying to use imagery of household pets to stir the
> public into thinking that the doctor is somehow hurting poor little fluffy.
> The fact is that these animals are usually raised in the lab with the sole
> purpose of being experimented on.  

In 1989, prior to the cancellation of Carey's project, 
Representative Alphonse Jackson of Shreveport, Louisiana, submitted 
a bill to the LA House of Representatives, at the specific request 
of LSU, which would have allowed researchers to seize cats and dogs 
from shelters that remained unclaimed after 5 days.  The 
aforementioned "cat shooting" experiments, BTW, were conducted at 
the LSU Medical Center.  

Did "60 Minutes" mention the Jackson bill?

> PeTA used a letter written by someone
> claiming to be a co-worker of the doctor, to scare the congressman, public,
> and anyone else that would listen into believing that the doctor's
> experiments were brutally conducted.  More specifically she claimed that
> nobody in the office was able to work over the cries of the cats being
> executed without painkillers.  60 Minutes interviewed the writer of the
> letter, who turned out to be a secretary in an unrelated office in the
> building.  She admitted that she had NEVER heard any cries and had NEVER
> even been in the office.  She also admitted that she got all of her
> information out of a publication put out by these goons and wrote it just
> to scare people with callous disregard of the truth.  

You say:

    "she got all of her information out of a publication put out by these
     goons and wrote it just to scare people."

Who are the "goons" that you're referring to here?

If it's true that the screams were non-existent, then I would 
agree that much of the case against Carey's research would go up 
in smoke.  However, I'd be reluctant to abandon the inquiries 
altogether on the basis of one letter.  A Times-Picayune reporter 
claimed that several doctors at LSUMC had privately complained 
about the research, but had requested anonymity.  While their 
anonymity weakens the moral case against Carey, their desires are 
understandable to anyone who appreciates the political wheeling 
and dealing that's been going on at LSU since the days of Huey 
Long.  

> To top it all off, an
> all-star team of research doctors was commissioned to look into the good
> doctor's work and they found it excellent and, in a report to congress,
> recommened that the work continue. PeTA continued to pester the congressman
> that represented the good doctor's district and released the lying letter
> to the public, soon the funding was cut off.

Two years ago, Sixty Minutes reported some "excellent" research which
showed that amalgam fillings cause MS and that the removal of amalgam
fillings can cure MS within a matter of days, if not hours.   Within
days of the broadcast, dental researchers all around the country were
screaming, "bullshit", at the top of their lungs. 

-- 
Russell Lawrence, WP Group, New Orleans (504) 443-5000
russ@wpg.com   uunet!wpg!russ
Newsgroups: talk.politics.animals