AnimalRights.Net

When Princeton gave its stamp
of approval to Peter Singer by offering him an important appointment,
the university dismissed the possibility that it might have any moral
obligations beyond upholding the principal of academic freedom. Benjamin
Franklin Middle School in Teaneck, New Jersey, took its lead from Princeton
in assigning the following assignment to sixth graders:

Please respond to the following statement in at least 3 paragraphs.
Choose a “for or against” point of view and defend your opinion.

“Now it must be admitted these arguments apply to the newborn baby as
much as to the fetus.”

“When the death of a disabled infant will lead to the birth of another
infant with better prospects of a happy life, the total amount of happiness
will be greater if the disabled infant is killed… Therefore, if killing
the hemophiliac infant has no adverse affects on others, it would, according
to the total view, be right to kill him. The main point is clear: killing
a disabled infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Very
often it is not wrong at all.”

Sharon Hes, a candidate for
a seat in the New Jersey state assembly, posted a copy of the assignment
to her campaign web site and noted:

However, it is both dangerous and damaging for eleven-year-olds
to be exposed to Singer’s “utilitarian ethics” in the writing assignment
described above … The real danger of this assignment is that it acclimates
the students to morally reprehensible views, making it seem like simply
a choice between chocolate and vanilla ice cream.

Well said, Ms. Hes. It is shocking
that Singer’s views have gained such cachet in elite institutions such
as Princeton. It is not surprising that some people still think the world
would be a better place if only we could get rid of “those” people –
cranks and crackpots who denigrate human life will probably always be
with us — but to see this view embraced and promoted in so many corners
is truly frightening.

Reference:

Public School Teaches About Infanticide by Sharon Hes (http://www.sharonhes.com/petersinger.htm)

Several news outlets recently
reported on work by a researcher at the California Institute of Technology
to discover the center of “self-awareness” within the brain. Researcher
John Allman claims to have found neurons believed to integrate the various
functions of the brain into what human beings experience as self-awareness
are also present in great apes.

While intriguing the evidence
for a self-awareness portion of the brain is sketchy at best. What the
researcher did was compare brain scans of normal, healthy adults with
those of brain scans of mentally ill and Alzheimer’s patients. What Allman
observed were differences in the density of neurons in the frontal lobe
of the brain near the corpus callosum (which connects the two halves of
the brain). In the Alzheimer’s patients, the disappearance of these “self-awareness”
cells seemed to correlate with a loss of identity.

Allman also looked at brain
scans of various animal species and found that while chimps and gorillas
had similar structures, though smaller than in human beings, they were
completely absent in the non-primate species he studied.

Reference:

“Science Uncovers Apes’ Hidden Soul” from The Times (UK) ,
November 23, 1999

According to Wired, an
article in the November 18 issue of Current Biology details new advances
in inserting human genes into nonhuman animals. Researchers at the University
of Chicago have developed a technique to create transgenic organisms in
species as diverse as beetles, frogs and birds, with a potential to transplant
genes to many other species. Previously transgenic experiments had been
limited to fruit flies, nematodes, mice and rats.

The potential for advancing
medical knowledge is immense. Plans are already underway to use the new
technique to study diabetes, for example, as well as embryology.

Source:

Expanding
the Lab Menagerie from Wired News, November 19, 1999

As the United States prepares
to celebrate Thanksgiving, animal rights activists are busy trying to
make their case that meat eating in general, and the eating of turkeys
specifically, is cruel and unnecessary.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals launched a special undercover investigative report on its web
site claiming to document cruelty at a turkey farm in Minnesota. PETA
urged people to write Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura and other officials
with complaints about animal cruelty.

Interestingly, even PETA seems
to be recognizing that it has a credibility gap with its undercover investigations
after repeatedly providing misinformation and selectively edited videotapes
in previous undercover operations. A letter from Mary Beth Sweetland,
PETA’s Director of Research, Investigations & Rescue Department, to
a Minnesota prosecutor specifically mentions that the videotape of the
investigation is “a first-generation copy of the original videographic
record…”

No word yet on whether or not
Minnesota officials are investigating the case.

Meanwhile United Poultry Concerns
is going to protest the annual White House Thanksgiving ceremony. Keeping
with tradition, a live turkey will be presented at the White House and
President Clinton will then “pardon” the turkey.

According to UPC’s Karen Davis,
“Instead of sarcastically ‘pardoning’ a turkey to palliate mass murder,
food poisoning, moldering carcasses and rotting politics, we urge people
to join us in marching to a different drumstick this Thanksgiving and
Eat Happy.”

A UPC press release on the
protest also claimed the pardoning ceremony was designed to “make fun
of turkeys.”

Meanwhile, to celebrate Thanksgiving,
PETA will be in Baltimore giving away fur coats to the homeless. The coats
have been donated to PETA over the years and have a red stripe painted
on one of the sleeves to make them worthless for resale.

Here’s my suggestion for PETA
next year. Why not get a bunch of people to donate Thanksgiving turkeys,
put a red food die stripe down the middle and pass them out as well? Couldn’t
hurt.

Sources:

Turkey Advocates
Will Protest Presidential “Pardoning” Ceremony, United Poultry Concerns
press release, November 1999.

Turkey Farm Cruelty:
The Case, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals letter, November
18, 1999.

Peta To
Give Away Fur Coats To Baltimore’s Homeless, People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals press release, November 22, 1999.

The Animal Liberation Front broke
into a research center at Washington State University, smashing equipment
and spray painting ‘ALF’ throughout the building. The target of the attack,
the Avian Health Laboratory, conducted safety tests on egg and chicken
products. Last month the ALF claimed responsibility for an attack on a
research laboratory at Western Washington University.

Source:

Equipment
destroyed at animal research center from the Associated Press, November
22, 1999

The Associated Press and other
news outlets are reporting that Italian scientists managed to increase
the life expectancy of mice by 35 percent by manipulating their genes.
The researchers switched off a gene that made the mice vulnerable to cell
damage from oxygen. So far there is no evidence that the mice experienced
any side effects from the change.

“They hit a milestone in aging
research with this study — they’ve found a genetic intervention in mice
that make them live longer without any side effects,” Massachusetts Institute
of Technology researcher Leonard Guarente told the Associated Press.

The principal researcher on the
project, Pier Giusepe Pelicci warned that it was a big step from extending
life span in mice to doing so in human beings, but oxidation has long
been suspected as a major factor in the aging of human beings as well
as other animals.

Sources:

Researchers
increase life span of genetically engineered mice from the Associated
Press, November 17, 1999.

Scientists
Find Protein to Control Lifespan in Mice from Reuters, November 18,
1999.