Re: get real radsafers!

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

OK here I go.  When I was 13, my father let me help in his laboratory occasionally, and when I was 15, I started to work there regularly twice a week.  We worked with small animals: chickens, rats, mice, rabbits.  They were used to test treatments for various diseases, both drugs of various sort and some surgeries.  Mice were also used for various assays: follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) assays were done using mice, who were sacrificed -- killed -- to complete the assay (I learned to do these).


My point is that I never ever saw anyone deliberately mistreat an animal.  Some things done were painful, though never for long, but when an injection is given, it hurts.  There is also post-surgical pain, just as with people.  Many animals had their adrenal glands removed and were used to test adrenal hormone replacement, so they were uncomfortable, but would you rather have tested these processes on people?  There was always a good reason for any painful procedure, nor was there prolonged pain.  Sacrificing was done as humanely as possible.  


You can't tell from pictures, any more than you can tell from a picture of a person recovering from major surgery, or in traction, for example.  Pictures can look awful, but the animal may not be suffering at all.


One also needs to remind PETA and similar groups that veterinary medicine has made enormous strides, and has used experimental animals to get there.



Enough said.

Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com