From Beatriz Luna Chacón:

Re: Pain relief without the numbness (Oct. 3): As What I first see on the page is a picture of a tiny defenseless creature, and the text that goes with it: “In a new study with rats, sci­en­tists claim to have fi­nally fig­ured out how to knock out the pain-sens­ing cells only, potentially re­vo­lu­tion­iz­ing pain treat­ment.”

Are you aware that more than 115 million animals in North America are needlessly tortured, poisoned, maimed, and killed in laboratories every year. Dogs, cats, monkeys, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, and other animals suffer through cruel chemical, cosmetic, pesticide, and food-additive tests—among other harmful experiments—every day?

Helpless animals, some just babies, live their lives inside cages in labs. They are force-fed, injected with toxins, inflicted with diseases, have aerosols sprayed into their eyes, and have electrodes inserted in their brains. Some have tissue cut from their bodies without any anesthesia. The animals who manage to survive are left severely damaged—physically and emotionally.

Animal testing, also known as vivisection, is not only cruel—it’s pointless, unreliable, and bad science. We know that more effective and humane alternatives are available that are both more reliable and less expensive. The U. S.government’s own scientific advisory board, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), recently reported that many animal tests are useless and should largely be replaced by superior non-animal methods.

Please STOP supporting and advertising any product that is animal cruel. People are now informed and we will not consume any product that is manufactured under such shame. Thanks for listening. Please visit peta.org for more info.


(Editor’s note: We see two issues here. (1) Do you think it is wrong to use cosmetics tested painfully on animals? Yes, you say you do. This is a conscientious position and we applaud it. (2) Would you stop using a life-saving drug for yourself, or your mother or father because it was tested painfully on animals?...

You are correct that the National Research Council recently reported that animal testing could be reduced. Unfortunately, they were mostly not talking about medical research.)