PETA Would Choose Animals Over AIDS Cure
By: Administrative Account | Source: CNSNews.com
May 10, 2006 6:12AM EST

By Melanie Hunter
CNSNews.com Senior Editor
May 09, 2006

(CNSNews.com) - An animal rights activist group has launched an ad campaign to promote its opposition to animal research even if that research could produce a cure for AIDS.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is running ads on the Washington, D.C. Metro system, quoting PETA President and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk as saying, "Even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we'd be against it."

The Center for Consumer Freedom said PETA's ads make it clear that given the choice between rodents and curing sick people, rodents take precedence.

"PETA has raked in millions of dollars over the years from people who think their contributions are helping to shelter animals," said Center for Consumer Freedom director of research David Martosko in a press release.

"But those donations are helping to damage respected medical charities, smear medical researchers, and support violent actions against research facilities. Americans would be better served donating money to their local shelters and leaving PETA out in the cold," said Martosko.

The animal rights activist group's stance on animal research has resulted in boycotts against medical research charities such as the March of Dimes, the American Red Cross, the American Heart Association, the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (Race for the Cure).

Medical treatments and therapies to treat leukemia, diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and those suffering from Alzheimer's have been tested on animals before they were given to humans, the Center for Consumer Freedom noted. The same can be said of anesthesia and many surgical techniques that save human lives, it added.

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