Letter to the Editor

I was a surprised and outraged when I read the editorial on zombie dogs in last week?s issue of The Tartan. There was not one word said in regard to the suffering and unnecessary deaths that so many animals are put through in order to complete this research. Not only are many animals never able to be brought back to life in the first place, but many of them that are brought back have serious psychological and physiological damage as a result of these experiments.

When one reads of the new research that is being done nowadays, one should keep in mind that there is no excuse for the unnecessary suffering of unconsenting animals. The life for laboratory animals is one of deprivation, isolation, and misery and there are as many as 115 million animals killed in research laboratories in America each year. Due to the realization by scientists that animals are NOT a good model of the human body, there are many new technologies that have and are currently being developed in order for scientists to be able to do their research without the invasive use of animal subjects. Some labs that embrace this progressive way of thinking are: The National Cancer Institute, Pharmagene Laboratories in England, and Physiome Sciences in New Jersey.

Animal testing is currently a ?hot topic,? and The Tartan should realize that it is important to list both sides of every story. For every person that MIGHT be saved using this still very premature method, how many animals must die? Next time a piece of research is brought to awareness, the good and the bad aspects of it should be brought to light.