Washington —This morning the Arizona Republic published a full-page advertisement from the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), aimed squarely at animal-rights activists. The ad, featuring a burning AIDS ribbon, begins by quoting People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) President Ingrid Newkirk, who famously told Vogue magazine: “Even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we’d be against it.”
PETA, along with the affiliated Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) and other animal-rights groups, are trying to claim the moral high ground this year in statewide and local skirmishes. But these same groups oppose research to find cures for AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and countless other ailments if it involves animal testing.
The CCF ad also calls out prominent PETA and PCRM spokeswomen who owe their lives to the very medical research their groups oppose. PETA Vice President Mary Beth Sweetland requires daily insulin shots for her diabetes. And PCRM Communications Specialist Simon Chaitowitz survived breast cancer with the help of chemotherapy, radiation, and stem-cell transplants. All of these treatments were tested on animals.
“The Grand Canyon State is ground zero for animal-rights issues this year,” said CCF Director of Research David Martosko, “but Arizonans shouldn’t make up their minds without knowing the character of the activists invading their state. The animal rights movement is incredibly destructive. Unless people start standing up to its leaders, it’s just a matter of time before miracle cures are a thing of the past.”
Martosko added: “PETA and PCRM activists usually won’t come right out and say it, but they care more about lab rats than sick people. If they are really convinced that animals deserve rights, the next one who falls gravely ill should refuse life-saving treatments that were tested on animals. But that’s clearly not happening.”
To learn more about animal-rights extremism, visit www.ConsumerFreedom.com. To request a copy of the new AIDS-ribbon ad or to schedule an interview with a Center for Consumer Freedom spokesperson, please contact our media department at 202.463.7112.
