On the way to the hardware store yesteday, I passed a lot of runners going to the "Race for Cure" put on by the Susan G. Komen Foundation to raise cash, cain and consciousness about breast cancer.
A good cause, and that one every person in America is likely to have personal and painful interactions with before it is all over, as we all have either mothers, daughters, wives, friends or co-workers who will -- at some time -- be diagnosed. Something like 200,000 women a year are diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S., and 40,000 of these will die of it.
About a year ago, The New England Journal of Medicine put out a report that Herceptin -- a drug already shown to prolong survival in patients with advanced breast cancer -- can also cut in half the recurrence of a common form of early breast cancer.
You would think every American would applaud such a breakthrough, but you'd be wrong. PETA sneered at the new drug because the company that developed it, Genentech, uses animals in its drug testing.
In fact, animal tests are required for FDA approval of every drug. PETA, in short, disapproves of every new drug coming on to the market. They also oppose giving money to the Susan G. Komen Foundation and a lot of other groups raising money and funding research to cure a wide range of diseases and illnesses.
Next time someone raises the issue of breast cancer, prostate cancer, HIV or almost any another disease or condition, be sure to note that PETA and many other animal rights groups oppose all animal testing.
For reference, here a few of charities that do fund animal research, and the diseases they work on:
A good cause, and that one every person in America is likely to have personal and painful interactions with before it is all over, as we all have either mothers, daughters, wives, friends or co-workers who will -- at some time -- be diagnosed. Something like 200,000 women a year are diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S., and 40,000 of these will die of it.
About a year ago, The New England Journal of Medicine put out a report that Herceptin -- a drug already shown to prolong survival in patients with advanced breast cancer -- can also cut in half the recurrence of a common form of early breast cancer.
You would think every American would applaud such a breakthrough, but you'd be wrong. PETA sneered at the new drug because the company that developed it, Genentech, uses animals in its drug testing.
In fact, animal tests are required for FDA approval of every drug. PETA, in short, disapproves of every new drug coming on to the market. They also oppose giving money to the Susan G. Komen Foundation and a lot of other groups raising money and funding research to cure a wide range of diseases and illnesses.
Next time someone raises the issue of breast cancer, prostate cancer, HIV or almost any another disease or condition, be sure to note that PETA and many other animal rights groups oppose all animal testing.
For reference, here a few of charities that do fund animal research, and the diseases they work on:
- American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR)
- Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
- Alzheimer’s Association
- Arthritis Foundation
- March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation
- St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
- Muscular Dystrophy Association
- Shriners Hospitals for Crippled Children
- United Cerebral Palsy
- American Heart Association
- Lions Clubs International Foundation
- American Red Cross
- Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of America
- National Hemophilia Foundation
- National Kidney Foundation
- American Cancer Society
- The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund
- Children’s National Medical Center
- National Multiple Sclerosis Society
- Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research
- National Stroke Foundation
- American Diabetes Association
- Epilepsy Foundation of America
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