Page 4-Saturday, February 3, 1979-The Michigan Daily
Dissecting opinions on animals in research
B.B. It's only February, Mitch, but I can feel it'll
be a spring for love.
M.C. I'd like to agree, Blanch, but I can't be hap-
py when there are injustices in the world.
B.B. Oh?
M.C. 'Take the animals. Creatures are tortured
the world over at the hands of greedy humanity. It's
research. Remember ...
B.B. Yeah. Last year Ann Arbor citizens
streamed about car crash tests with chimps ..
M.C. Baboons. And I think it shows that people
really do care about animals subjected to research.
he only problem is exposing the public to the needs
o'f the merciless scientists. The bloodthirsty rats!
B.B. You're not being reasonable. Why are they
rats?
M.C. OK, I might have been a bit harsh on my
wording there. Perhaps just senseless murderers
would do. Eh-don't wrinkle your brows at me-I
was just kidding. No, actually, what I was referring
to is the misuse of animals in research today, and
the principal offenders, of course, are scientists.
B.B. I'm against hatred, Bursley "Swiss Steak",
and animal abuse. But can we begin by agreeing
that there are cases in which experimentation with
animals to learn how their bodies react to controlled
conditions is justified?
M.C. I'd have to agree with you that there are
cases. For example, if scientists gathered 10 rats
with cancer and gave them varying types of treat-
ment, I don't see a human injustice involved, since
at worst they will die of the cancer, and at the best
they, along with the community, could possibly be
cured of this dreaded disease.
B.B. You mean you don't think we should give
rats cancer?
M.C. Only if we find they've been previously ex-
posed to Barry Manilow music. No, just kidding. Of
course I don't think we should give rats cancer.
B.B. Aren'.t a thousand rat lives worth the chance
that even one life could be lengthened through the
knowledge of the disease? Wait, let's ask R.J. over
there. He's working on a paper here late tonight.
R.J. Come on Mitch, don't give me any of that, I
remember how you told, me you used to pull the
wings off flies and break bunny's legs when you
were five. And Blanch, I mean, if you're so in-
terested in fighting cancer, why do you eat canned
chili for dinner?
Oh, I don't know about this stuff. I refuse to think
too much about saving a few rats' necks - like
Woody Allen said in Annie Hall, to me animals and
nature are like dead bugs behind screen doors, and
rotting wood and stuff. Why do we spend so much
time talking about saving the whales, and helping
those cootchy-cootchy baby seals from the big, bad
hunters, et cetera? I mean, PEOPLE are DYING of
cancer, and we're talking mice. Aren't there enough
people problems to argue about?
M.C. Well, I suppose if syou believe man should
take advantage of all the intellectual advantages he
has over animals, then you probably think we
should wipe out all possibly dangerous aninals with
one sweeping campaign so we won't have to worry
about attacks, right? We should sacrifice all in the
name of human beings, right? The hell with
anything else which happens to share our world?
The old 'looking out for number one again, eh?
R.J. No Mitch, no. We can't just take anything we
want in nature, but aren't we fighting the "wild
kingdom" when we try to stamp out cancer? And
someday, if you're dying of cancer, I bet you're
going to be sorry you didn't zap our friends Pixie
and Dixie when you had the chance. Now don't
make a face like that, is that so cold? Don't we try to
rub out bacterial diseases?
B.B. Thanks for the thoughts, guys. Now, Mitch,
of course, we ought to make our fellow beings' cages
tidy and comfortable, and we ought to spare all life.
But I go with R.J. - if chili gives me cancer, I want
the assurance that no laws against pricking mice
will prick me.
M.C. All right, it seems as if we've reached an
impasse on this point. You two think everything
should be sacrificed for ourselves-as selfish as this
may be-whereas I believe we should be equitable
with the animals who share our planet. Of course I
mean fairness to a certain degree. But how about
the misuses in caring for the research animals out-
side of their respective tests? Cruelty to animals is
perhaps most outrageous outside of the actual tests.
But we justify all this, once more in the name of
science.
R.J. I say fry 'em and have 'em for lunch.
M.C. This is of course typical of your sacrificial
attitude. I can't help but wonder if you'd feel the
same way if we weren't the dominationing
creatures on this planet.
B.B. Okay. But, isn't human life worth the
sacrifice?
M.C. It would be fine if all the work done on
animals in the research field actually benefited
humans. But I can't see how learning why a dog
chaseshis tail can possibly help humanity. Did I
hear my mother calling?
B.B. Your nurse, I hope. Mitch: I do respect the
goals of the scientists. I can somehow grant them
that discretion in the battles against disease and
pain in humans. Wait. I think it was my moan.
M.C. Long live naivete! Actually, I think that was
the Editorial Director. Our story was due an hour
ago...
This conversation, between University Editor
Brian Blanchard, Night Editor Mitch Cantor,
and Arts Editor R. J. Smith took place late one
night this week. No animals were present to tell
CIiARETM,
00
Q Q0
--040
their side.
40
III
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-Health Service Handbook-Gail Ryan
Students talk back to Health Service
Vol. LXXXIX, No. 104
News Phone: 764-0552
Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan
Credit where credit
'4
s due
TyHE LSA Administrative Board
T this week decided that students
can now strike Advanced Placement
from their records and avoid the in-
creased costs which sometimes result
from such credit. This is a welcome
decision because it grants to all LSA
students a privilege which was for-
merly allowed only to Honors students.
In 1978, almost 1200 freshmen sub-
mitted Advanced Placement exam
scores in the hope of obtaining
academic credit and advanced stan-
ding in classes. Many of those who
were granted additional hours were
unaware that such credit could cost
them additional tuition.
Because Literary College freshmen
and sophomores pay lower tuition than
upperclassmen, a problem has existed
for those students who bring AP credit
to the University but choose to stay for
a full eight terms. In this case, studen-
ts often graduate with more than the
required 120 credits, and ultimately do
not need the AP credits. Those credits,
then, only boost a student's class stan-
ding prematurely, and increase his
tuition rates.
AP credit is not useless. In fact, it
has allowed many students to ac-
celerate their educational programs
and graduate in fewer than eight ter-
ms. Such acceleration results in sub-,
stantial savings of tuition, so the minor
increases resulting from premature
advanced class standing are entirely
offset.
The LSA decision now allows studen-
ts greater latitude in planning their
educations by allowing them to drop
extra, unnecessary credits to tem-
porarily postpone increased tuition
rates.
Even for those students who decide
to eliminate the credit from their
records, the Advanced Placement
program provides significant benefits.
Sufficient scores on the tests allow
students to forego some prerequisite
courses. And while students may lose
credit for the AP courses, they do not
lose the knowledge they have gained.
This advanced preparation can allow a
student to get more out of his eight
terms than he would without the cour-
ses, whether he gets credit or not.
i
QUESTION: A kid on my hall
overheard me bitching about
Health Service and said that in-
stead of standing around com-
plaining I should do something
about it. He suggested that I
look into the Student Health
Organization. That's what I'm
doing.
ANSWER: It is good to hear
that some students are
spreading the word about the
efforts of the Student Health
Organization (SHO). This
organization is a bona fide
student organization within the
Michigan Student Assembly
and perceives its primary fun-
ction as serving as a liaison
between the Health Service and
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Now, for an SHO member.
"Students on this campus
complain about two things --
dorm food and Health Service.
We decided to get involved with
Health Service. We feel that
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knowledge about and more op-
portunity for input into the
quality of health care they
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harness all the energy that goes
into complaining and redirect it
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The kinds of activities and
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an information dissemination
project, by which we hope to in-
form students of the kinds of
services available to them at
Health Service, and a Health
Care Professional Directory,
which will provide photographs
and brief written descriptions of
the health care providers at
Health Service. This will
hopefully assauge some of the
concerns of students that
Health Service is an impersonal
place, and may help them in
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We also plan to meet with
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and colleges to see what they're
doing with their health
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invited on varidus Health Ser-
vice committees that would
benefit from student input.
All of this "Good work" really
helps us personally, to learn
how organizations, particularly
medical care ones, are struc-
tured and function from day to
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consumer involvement really
entails. Many of us are in
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there are many others ,from
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Some of us are undergraduate
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If you are interested in
joining or finding out more
about the SHO, watch the Daily
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place of our first meeting of the
semester, or call Mary Hegen-
barth at 994-3247.
Editor's note: Starting this
week, Health Service Han-
dbook will once again be a
regular feature on the Daily's
editorial page, appearing
every Saturday. Health
related questions should be
directed to: The Health
Educator, U-M Health Ser-
vice, Division of Office of
Student Services, 207 Flet-
cher Ave., Ann Arbor,
48109.
MI
Letters to
et
V,,
d
To the Daily:
I am writing as an individual
who considers Israeli evacuation
of the West Bank an essential
prerequisite to the development
of a viable Palestinian com-
munity exercising its right to self
determination. Further, I feel
that one of the - most basic con-
ditions that must be eliminated
before even this preliminary step
can be taken is the inclination on
the part of Americans and
Israelis to perceive the oc-
cupatiuon of the West Bank as
"benign". Outsiders will never
be in a position to pass judgement
on the harshness of Israeli
military rule. However, even one
such as myself, whose views
could in no way be attributed to a
majority of Israel's supporters,
am in deep disagreement witht
the author of an article which ap-
peared in Wednesday's (Jan. 31)
Daily under the heading "What
Happened and Why". The article
contained such glaring factual
inconsistencies, misrepresen-
tations, heavy-handed use of
propaganda, irrelevant nonsense
and outright lies, that the author
endangers the position of his/her
more responsible colleagues.
Under the guise of a rational
explanation of events surroun-
ding the speech by Israeli
politician Yigal Allon, we are
presented with the following
allegations: that Israel, due to its
ties with repressive governmen-
ts, is itself among the world's
leading dictatorships (a clear at-
is associated with the University
(implying that speakers brought
through Hillel sponsorship are
connected with the University,
which they are not). The author
also indicates that the University
promotes "Zionist" views, and
that the faculties of the Univer-
sity exhibit in their research and
teaching a marked pro-Zionist
"Thrust". It is clear that s/he has
had very little exposure to cour-
ses taught in the Near Eastern
Studies Department, or in the
Center for Near Eastern and Nor-
th African Studies. If it is possible
to interpret the teachings of an
entire University the'size of the U
of M in light of any specific bias,
it could by no stretch of the
imagination be called "pro-
Zionist". Actually, a majority of
the professors here who deal
professionally with the, Middle
East take the Arab Nationalist
point of view.
As the article continues, the
author attempts to further
discredit his/her opponents by
including numerous irrelevan-
cies: the CIA, Joel Samoff,-South
Africa and America's fundamen-
tal role in society, and also
through more blatant- factual
misrepresentations. S/he alleges
that the real motive behind op-
position to the LSA-SG endor-
sement of the anti-Allon protest
was a plot to force the reversal of
a "majority" LSA-SG decision.
In fact, LSA-SG President Bob
Stechuk has admitted that he ac-
ted without a vote of any kind
TheLE
have misrepresented themselves
to him, claiming that they only
wished to march peacefully out-
side the auditorium, which in
retrospect was most obviously
not the intended limit of their in-
volvement.
(Throughout. the article, the
author seems unable to restrain
him/herself from taking every
imaginable cheap shot in the
propagandist's vocabulary, even
dusting off the almost requisite
attempt to associate one's
political opponents with Nazism).
It is in the concluding
paragraphs of the article that the
author does his/her cause the
most damage, and in fact renders
questionable the entire foun-
dation upon which his/her article
rests. In trying to appeal to our
sense of moral equality, and in
attempting to stir our emotions
and our intellects towards the
recognition of an historical in-
justice, it is sad to note that the
author finds -it necessary to con-
done the same tactics used by
those whom s/he would condemn.
S/he asks us to accept the
judgements that a "small fist-
fight" that violently prevented a.
student from taking photographs
(involving another lie, the
student beaten being not Israeli,
but American), and that the
denial of the right of free speech
to Yigal Allon, are somehow,
through some twist of logic,
morally alright. These are
judgements that I cannot accept.
The Palestinian-Israeli
)aily
in the West Bank is a necessary
step towards the elimination of
both. But the presentation of the
views of the Palestinian Human
Rights Committee wag quite un-
fortunate. I hope future attempts
to explain the valid, legitimate
desires of the Palestinian Arabs
to exercise control over their own
destiny can be presented without
feeling the need to so badly
distort and twist the numerous,
complicated issues involved. In
the form of a postscript, I would
like to add that I consider that
associating my opposition to
what transpired after Allon's
speech with support for South
Africa, the CIA and opposition to
Joel Samoff, degrades those of us
who see no such association and
are working to resolve the issues
mentioned in a way that may not
be in fact disagreeable to the
author.
-Steve Heydemann
e
Rocky
To the Daily:
I was repulsed by Tuesday's
editorial (January 31)
"eulogizing" Nelson Rockefeller.
Why. bother to comment on the
death of a public figure if you can
only fill the space with half-
hearted compliments? Your
editorial might as well have said,
"The Daily is glad Nelson
Rockefeller is dead. He was a
,Republican anyway." That's
what seemed to have been writ-
fti hew nth ins
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