4 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 24, 1993
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420 Maynard
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed
by students at the
University of Michigan

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JOSH DUow
Editor in Chief
ANDREw LEVY
Editorial Page Editor

Unless otherwise noted, unsigned editorials reflect the majority opinion of the Daily editorial board.
All other cartoons, articles and letters do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Daily.

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Inhumane animal testing at the 'U'

By NICOLE SIEGEL
As someone who is concerned
about the welfare of animals, I was
very happy to see a page of the
Daily dedicated to the issue of
animal experimentation on campus
(10/29/93). Like many other
students, I am following a natural
science curriculum. I hope to go to
veterinary school because of my
deep concern for animals, but it is
this career choice that brings me
further into the depth of the use of
animals in medical experimentation.
The issue of animals in medical
experimentation is an important one
for us to think about, because it
calls into question the very morals
upon which the medical profession
lies.
While the use of animals for
models in science is the
predominant experimental practice,
not every researcher supports the
methods or the results. There is a
group of members of the scientific
community who deplorethe use of
animals in medical research. The
goal of the Physician's Committee
for Responsible Medicine
(P.C.R.M.) is to greatly reduce the
usage of and dependency on
animals in the medical field. These
physicians possess the same
knowledge of physiology as other
physicians in the United States, yet
they actively support alternative
methods as replacements for
traditional tests. They stress the
practicality of growing alternatives
such as in-vitro testing, cell tissue
cultures and computer models
which are programmed to react to
conditions as a human body would.
Siegel is an LSA Junior and a
member of Students Concerned
About Animal Rights
Daily pokes Buckeyes
To the Daily:
Nice going, pinheads. Do you
realize that in trying to make a
mockery of Ohio State ("The War
of Words," 11/19/93), you have
made a mockery not only of
yourselves, but of our entire school?
As leaders of the Daily, perhaps the
most visible figurehead of the
University, the editors are
profoundly responsible for the
words that they publish. If chosen
carelessly, these words may have
pernicious consequences.
The University is one of the top-
ranked schools in the world,
prestigious for its academics as well
as its athletic strength. We have
worked hard to achieve and sustain
this reputation and stature. In this
light, should we abandon our pride
when faced with a few inane
football losses? Absolutely not. The
truest form of pride takes on the
face of humility, not arrogance.
And surely not complete mockery.
That's below us. But, unfortunately,
that's no longer what Ohio State
thinks. And it's all because of what
you wrote. Imagine that. The Daily,
ostensibly a microcosm of the
University, has glibly attempted to
tarnish the reputation of an
institution about which it knows

This brings me to an important
point that, despite growing
publicity, is often neglected or
overlooked. It has been the case
more than a few times that cures or
treatments developed on animals in
the laboratory have been quite
unsuccessful, and sometimes
harmful, when introduced into the
systems of human patients. Animal
systems are different in many
important ways from human
systems, calling into question the
reliability of human-applied results
of animal experimentation. In
addition, psychology has been
pinpointed as a potential influence
on physiological reactions, and it is
possible that data gleaned from an
animal in adverse conditions in
which they are often kept while
being experimental subjects may
differ substantially from that
obtained from an animal in its
natural setting.
Laboratory animals are often
maintained under conditions which
do not reflect the appropriate
gratitude they are due for helping
find cures for diseases. What upsets
me the most about the exploitation
of any animal is not as much that
the animal is eventually killed, but
the unnecessarily poor conditions
they are forced to endure until that
time. Even though researchers
claim that some experiments are
necessarily uncomfortable or
painful for animals, they cannot
defend the lack of effort focused on
providing animals with somewhat
decent lives. Jane Goodall describes
her first visit to a chimpanzee
laboratory with obvious pain, in
that hundreds of chimpanzees are
confined for over 50 years with no
social stimulation at all, which they
thrive on in their natural habitat,
Cutting the deficit
To the Daily:
I am writing in response to an
editorial titled "Another New Deal"
(10/29). The authors of the article
identified the Concord Coalition,
and its plan for deficit reduction
through means testing of
entitlements. However, your
authors argued that savings from
cuts in entitlements should be used
for more social programs rather
than for deficit reduction. In the
article, you stated that "deficits are
not inherently a bad thing. In fact,
deficits are often a result of liberal
social policies that are central to
preserving any society that values
equal opportunity and wants to
alleviate the effect of historical
injustices." Yet your authors do not
seem to realize that the deficit itself
is a huge social injustice in that it
robs the prosperity of future
generations. Currently, our national
debt is around $4 trillion, or
roughly $16,000 per citizen. This is
a burden which we are placing upon
future generations in order to
finance our current profligate
spending. How can any society
which "values equal opportunity"
place such a burden upon its
children and grandchildren? -
In the article, you argue the

except for the food they are given,
and sometimes their own feces.
Chimpanzees have intellectual
needs besides basic food and water,
and to deprive them of this
important aspect is simply
negligence. A simple bright-colored
object, such as a magazine or a .
Rubic's cube to occupy the chimp's
lonely hours is not too much to ask,
It is also a prime concern of
mine that some experiments are
repeated needlessly. The
redundancy of medical tests and the
unnecessarily poor treatment of
laboratory animals, along with the
fact that the reliability of animals as
physiological models as applying to
humans is not absolute, I am
troubled by the useless deaths of
133,000 animals in research
annually on the University campus.
Contrary to popular belief, the
entire medical community is not
united in its views that animals are
the most reliable source of
knowledge. At the very least, I
believe that it is our responsibility,
as taxpayers, and as students who
indirectly fund much of the research
that is conducted on campus, to
question the use of animals in
medical testing. I think everyone
should weigh the large number of
deaths of animals with
"breakthroughs" made resulting
from their use.
And, equally important, we need
to insist on the use of techniques
that have already been developed as
a first step in research. As cognitive
as we like to believe our own
species is, let us not fail to show
that the enormous increase in our
brain size in the last three million
years did not neglect the
development of that part of our
brain which is called conscience.
the traditional Democratic/
Republican debate over raising
taxes vs. cutting spending; the
Concord Coalition has formulated
a plan to eliminate the deficit (not
just decrease it) by the year 2000.
No one will reap immediate gains,
but the long term benefits of fiscal
responsibility are immeasurable.
The Concord Coalition is currently
in the process of forming both a
University chapter and a citywide
Ann Arbor chapter. For more
information about the plan, or
chapter activities, call Dan
Friedman at 741-9265.
DAN FRIEDMAN
LSA Graduate
Commy consra.tors
To the Daily:
As if it weren't already tough
enough to get an education based in
American family values at the
University of Michigan. You can
hear loud "rock'n'roll" music
blaring from South Quad.
Meanwhile, your ears are assaulted
by women demanding radical 4
change in society as they chant from
the Diag.
One more blow to American
values has been struck by this
revered learning institution. With
over six months to adust the

I Aft BE Ift s

Thought police at Indiana

And so the debacle continues...
The latest episode of the IU Stu-
dent Association-Latinos Unidos in-
cident has the Radical Incidents Team
declaring comments made by four
senators racially motivated. Not only
that, a couple of outside lawyers are
calling for mandatory sensitivity
training of IUSA senators and a reso-
lution requiring at least one African
American and one Latino student on
the Senate.
To begin with, the Racial Inci-
dents Team has taken it upon itself to

students and trying to force a set of
beliefs upon them.
It is not the responsibility of this
University or any other state-run in-
stitution to force, cajole and other-
wise bully students to adhere to a
certain set of beliefs designed to ho-
mogenize the minds of students while
hiding behind the label of sensitivity.
In an ideal world, all students would
have the insight and the wisdom to
respect each others' beliefs. But at-
tempting to force that upon students
constitutes a blatant attempt at con-
-- . TY. n

Un iversity
stead of a student association, it
would be a collection of various'
minority campus groups, further
discouraging students from elect-
ing their representatives by having
them appointed for them.
This incident must be put be-
hind IUSA. It has already seriously
damaged what little credibility
IUSA has with students. Not only
that, but it has side-tracked IUSA
from dealing with issues like the
presidential search, proposals for
yet another tuition hike and other
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