By Scott Tibbs, February 12, 2004
Wesley J. Smith comments on the decision by Cambridge University to drop a multimillion-dollar research projects that would have used monkeys in biomedical research. Smith details how Alex Pacheco, an "animal rights" fanatic, managed to get a position with a Dr. Edward Taub, and then intentionally allowed the conditions in the laboratory to degrade while Taub was on vacation so he could frame Taub. Thankfully, Taub was exonerated and produced a much-needed therapy for stroke victims.
The hypocrisy of this is stunning. The fact that PeTA still brags about this fraud provides a small glimpse of how far these extremists will go to promote their agenda. Even this, though, pales in comparison to their alliance with the al Qaeda of the "animal rights" movement, the Animal Liberation Front.
There are two things I just can't comprehend. First, I cannot comprehend why PeTA is viewed with any credibility at all. This is an organization that openly supports terrorism! If National Right to Life were to support abortion clinic bombers, they would be done. Legitimate environmental groups both denounce and distance themselves from the Earth Liberation Front all the time. But somehow, the kooks in PeTA manage to remain the nation's #1 animal rights group.
The second thing that I cannot comprehend is why there isn't more of an outcry from advocates for the disabled, the terminally ill and the chronically ill against these "animal rights" activists. Christopher Reeve went before Congress to plead for stem cell research, but apart from a few voices, there is not a large, organized campaign against "animal rights" extremists who work against needed biomedical research or the terrorists those "animal rights" extremists ally themselves with.
But some "animal rights" extremists would go even farther than eliminating biomedical research. Some AR fanatics go so far as to compare pet ownership to slavery. Ingrid Newkirk, the founder of PeTA, said; "Pet ownership is an absolutely abysmal situation brought about by human manipulation." But the elimination of pet ownership would have a deeper impact than taking away Fido or Fluffy. PeTA's radical agenda would eliminate wonderful programs such as Leader Dogs for the Blind.
When PeTA pulls offensive stunts like the "holocaust in your dinner plate" or marginalizes itself by dressing up in silly costumes, one might think they are "harmless". Their agenda and their allies, however, are anything but.
