December
1994
What
To Say When Someone Asks...
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Q. Isn’t it true that every major
medical advance in the last century was a result of animal studies?
A. An examination of the factors contributing to the
increase in life expectancy in this century clearly shows that results
obtained from vivisection have had, at best, a minimal effect. The Centers
for Disease Control (CDC) reports that the increase in human life expectancy
during the last century is due mainly to life-style and environmental
changes and improvements in sanitation.
McKinley and McKinley of Boston University report that vaccines and
drugs introduced to fight infectious diseases account for, at most,
3.5% of the dramatic decline in overall mortality rates between 1900
and 1973. Of this decline, 92% occurred prior to the introduction of
vaccines and treatments derived from vivisection.
While vivisection has received more attention and funding, it has been
epidemiological and clinical studies which have had a more profound
impact on human health. For example, the connection between cholesterol
and heart disease was first established through epidemiological and
clinical studies which have had a more profound impact on human health.
For example, the connection between cholesterol and heart disease was
first established through epidemiology. Analyses of human populations
have proven to be much better indicators of the factors contributing
to cancer than animal experiments. In fact, clinical and epidemiological
evidence linking smoking and lung cancer was established long before
warnings of the dangers of smoking were released to the general public.
Because animal experimentation failed to reach the same conclusion,
warning labels on cigarettes were delayed for years! During that time
hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives due to lung cancer.
This passage is Point 2 of a pamphlet called Point/Counterpoint published
by The American Anti-Vivisection Society. For more information about
this pamphlet and the AAVS write to them at 801 Old York Road, #204,
Jenkintown, PA 19046-1685. Tel.: 215-887-0816.
Q. What will we do with all the animals if we stop eating them? Won’t
they overrun the earth?
A. Farm animals will not overrun the earth if we stop
eating them because we will no longer intentionally breed them as we
do now. Parent flocks and herds are deliberately maintained by artificial
insemination, genetic selection, bizarre lighting schedules and other
manipulations to force them to produce billions of offspring each year.
This inflated population will fade as people stop eating animal products.
In time, as David Gabbe states in Why Do Vegetarians Eat Like That?,
“farm animals could be left to fend for themselves; some would
make out fine, others would struggle to keep from becoming extinct.
But, like all animals (except humans), they would adjust their numbers
in accordance with the conditions around them.”
In the meantime, we have to remember that we, not they, are responsible
for their predicament. We have an obligation to find ways to ease the
transitional period for these animals.
This passage is taken from the pamphlet “Don’t Plants
Have Feelings Too?” published by United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
If you would like a copy of this pamphlet or more information, write
to Karen Davis, UPC Inc., P.O. Box 59367, Potomac, MD 20859. Tel.: 301-948-2406
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