A n i m
a l W r i t e s © sm
The official ANIMAL RIGHTS ONLINE newsletter
Publisher ~ EnglandGal@aol.com
Issue # 01/06/02
Editor ~ JJswans@aol.com
Journalists ~ ParkStRanger@aol.com
~
MichelleRivera1@aol.com
~
sbest1@elp.rr.com
Guest Editor for this issue ~ ParkStRanger
THE TEN ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE ARE:
1 ~ Scientific Literacy,
Biotechnology, and Animal Rights by Dr. Steve Best
2 ~ My Heart's Desire for
2002 by Michelle Rivera
3 ~ Let There Be Life by
Linda Beane
4 ~ Fur Farming Banned in
England and Wales from 2003
5 ~ New York Nightclubs Go
Furless
6 ~ Federal Court Promotes
Vegetarianism
7 ~ Free to a Good Home
Ads by EnglandGal
8 ~ New Year's Wishes from
ParkStRanger
9 ~ A Plea To Nature
10 ~ Memorable Quote
Happy 2002 From All the Staff
of
Animal Rights Online
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~1~
Scientific Literacy,
Biotechnology, and Animal Rights
by Dr. Steve Best ~
sbest1@elp.rr.com
There seems to be an inverse relationship between
the development of science and technology and citizens’ knowledge and awareness
about it. I’m talking, certainly, about basic factual knowledge concerning
physics, biology, and computers, but also, more importantly, the philosophical
ability to understand and anticipate how these matters shape and affect our
lives.
That the average American is ill-informed about even the most elementary facts
of the world is hilariously -- make that tragically -- evident in Jay Leno’s
“Jaywalking” routine that shows people don’t know how many sides there are to a
pentagon, but can instantly tell you not only that there are five Spice Girls,
but also their names.
Maybe if animal rights activists weren’t busy being so involved in the lives we
are always told we need to get, we might watch enough VH-1 and stay apace with
Star Magazine such that we could be competitive players at “Trivial Pursuit” and
really awe the crowd at cocktail parties.
Clearly we have other things on our minds. Yet it’s important that those
concerned about animal rights rigorously educate themselves about the dramatic
revolutions taking place in science and technology, specifically, the changes
involving genetic engineering, cloning, stem cell research, and
xenotransplantation. For these are the new avenues of animal exploitation and
we can’t criticize, resist, and stop what we don’t understand.
The new sciences and technologies could bring the human world blessings as well
as curses, but under the control of capitalist industries, the profit
imperative, elitist attitudes, and illusory beliefs that the world can be
controlled with precision and predictable consequences, the biotech revolution
is most likely to alter the planet for the worse.
However these ambiguous developments play out for human beings, it is clear
that beyond the billions of animals already killed in laboratories and
slaughterhouses, millions more are being sacrificed on the new alters of
“progress.” As it seems we are making progress in campaigns against fur,
vivisection, entertainment industries, and meat-consumption, animal exploiters
are always finding new ways to confine, maim, torture, and kill animals.
Thus, animal bodies are genetically designed and reconstructed in sundry ways.
They are engineered to yield more meat and milk, as they grow monstrously
large. Their milk secretions are manipulated to produce drugs and medicines.
Their organs are altered with human DNA to lessen the risk of transplant
rejection. And they are cloned in mass batches for all of these reasons. Of the
5% of animals that survive cloning attempts, most suffer a severe malady or
deformity and die prematurely. Of courses, all of these experiments involve new
methods of intensive confinement.
The human race is at a terribly difficult crossroads as it assumes hitherto
unimaginable powers it is not equipped to exercise. The genetic sciences have
created dramatic mutations in the natural world, allowing the redesign of
nature -- food, agriculture, animals, and human beings - and efforts to
commandeer evolution itself.
We thus live in a revolutionary era that demands new maps, theories, politics,
and modes of education. A democratic biopolitics and scientific education would
involve the emergence of new perspectives, understandings, sensibilities,
values, and paradigms that put in question the assumptions, methods, values,
and interpretations of modern sciences, calling for a reconstruction of science
in humane, democratic, ecological, and non-speciesist ways.
It is imperative that we do not leave the decisions to the scientists, anymore
than we would to the theologians (or corporate-hired bioethicists for that
matter), for their judgment and objectivity is less than perfect. To represent
all the nonhuman species whose interests are discounted, and to help advance
ecological perspectives, it is urgent that animal rights activists become major
voices and players in the new debates. Yet so far there is little opposition
to, discussion of, and, perhaps, understanding of biotech domination.
The new millennium thus demands a new activist movement defined against the
biotech manipulation of the natural world, and animal rights activists must
play a key role. The first step is that we all become well informed on the
latest developments in biotechnology, and gain the new literacy tools we will
need in the convulsive struggles to come.
Recommended Books and Websites:
Fox, Michael W. (1999) Beyond Evolution: The Genetically Altered Future of
Plants, Animals, the Earth, and Humans.
Kolata, Gina (1998) Clone. The Road to Dolly and the Path Ahead.
Rifkin, Jeremy (1998) The Biotech Century: Harnessing the Gene and Remaking
the World.
http://www.purefood.org
(Organic Consumers Association)
http://organicconsumers.org/listserv.htm
(Biodemocracy News)
http://www.genewatch.org
(Gene Watch)
http://www.greenpeace.org/~geneng/
(Greenpeace)
http://www.gene-watch.org/
(Council For Responsible Genetics)
http://www.bio-integrity.org/
(Alliance For Bio-Integrity)
http://www.safe-food.org/welcome.html
(Mothers For Natural Law)
http://www.ucsusa.org/agriculture/index.html
(Union of Concerned Scientists)
http://www.rafi.org/
(Erosion, Technology, and Concentration)
http://www.sierraclub.org/biotech/
(Sierra Club)
http://www.time.com/time/daily/special/genetics/index.html
(Time Magazine Special Issue on Genetics)
http://fullcoverage.yahoo.com/fc/Science/Biotechnology_and_Genetics/
(Yahoo Links)
Steve Best is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at the
University of Texas, El Paso. He is Vice-President of the Vegetarian
Society of El Paso, a long time vegan and animal rights activist, and author of
numerous books and articles in the areas of social theory, postmodernism, and
cultural studies. Some of his writings are posted at
http://utminers.utep.edu/best/
His latest book (co-authored with Douglas Kellner) is The Postmodern
Adventure: Science, Technology, and Cultural Studies (Guilford Press, New
York)
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~2~
My Heart's Desire for 2002
by Michelle Rivera - MichelleRivera1@aol.com
My wish for the year 2002 and beyond is that we
enter an age of tolerance and enlightenment. I believe that as a
movement, animal rights has a long way to go but that we have also come a long,
long way.
I suffered a deep disappointment recently when a felony dogfighting case was
dropped due to a technicality here in our little corner of the world. But
the director of our shelter pointed out that the State Attorney not only
returned all our calls and responded to all our e-mails, but that he also took
the loss hard and personally. This would not be so five years ago and
even though we have lost this battle, we have yet to win the war. I
believe that every day in every way people in positions to help our cause are
doing so. I am sorry for the setbacks we have encountered, the rodeo at
the Olympics being one of the most recent and visible. But I believe we
are still moving forward at an unprecedented rate.
In our local paper on Christmas Eve was a story of how the Cuban population in
South Florida celebrate a traditional Christmas. Over 5,000 live pigs
will be sold to Cubans in South Florida over the Christmas holidays to be
slaughtered and served up as dinner for Cuban families, poor and affluent
alike. The article told, in great detail, of the procedures and recipes
that are used. The article was accompanied by pictures of live pigs
waiting to be sold. Their sweet faces filling the photo, their fate
sealed. My first reaction, after the initial horror and revulsion, was to
write the paper and complain. But on second thought, I realized that this
traditional dinner has been going on for centuries, and now, with the glaring
publicity it has received, perhaps the revulsion I felt as a reader would
spread to other readers, and the truth, however tragic it is, will come out
about the slaughter of innocents for nothing more than selfish palates.
It may bring about some enlightenment. Probably not in my lifetime, but it
served as an educational article and may force readers to look at their own
dietary habits.
On the weekend preceding Christmas, our shelter adopted out several animals and
we celebrated that they, at least, would have a home for Christmas. The
day after Christmas, some came back. As long as I live I will never
forget the reason given for returning one gentle and beautiful
champagned-colored Maine Coone cat: "She made too much noise using
the litter box." Another perfectly wonderful feline was returned
because "She ran from my four-year old."
My wish for 2002 is for tolerance and understanding of animals who are simply
trying to make their way in the world.
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~3~
Let There Be Life
by Linda Beane - Ljbeane1@aol.com
Now that the holidays are behind us, many people
are experience a huge letdown. Cabin fever and all of its tenacious aspects
readily take hold.
Depression, boredom, and isolation are some of the more common feelings. Though
these doldrums will eventually go away as spring arrives, for many other
sentient beings, unhappiness, fear, depression, etc., is a tragic fact of life.
I am referring to all the unwanted, abandoned animals that have unfortunately
ended up in their local dogpound or shelter, " the animal kill
zones."
In these places not only do the animals face an almost certain demise, the
various methods of death are terrifying, painful and cruel. Euthanasia, a
supposedly friendly sounding word used readily by those that dispose of
unwanted pets, is anything but kind or pleasant. To these rejected, confused,
and frightened animals it is the final terror and betrayal.
There are three very common methods of these animals' disposal, killings that
number in the millions each year. First many shelters use the gas chamber
and then incinerate, too bad if some of the creatures are still alive. Second
some shelters inject the animals with a lethal dose of drugs, here again in an
act of insensitivity and cruelty, they actually inject the drug directly into
the animals' hearts. Finally there is the cruelest device, the decompression
chamber. Here the air is slowly pumped out of the enclosure and the animals
suffocate in the most agonizing fashion, one too heinous to describe.
Decompression chambers are so horrid and unbearable the animals actually leave
claw marks in the metal walls as they attempt to escape their fate. Under
normal circumstances no animal can leave marks on such surfaces, it is an
impossibility, the will to live gives the frightened animals extraordinary
strength.
Considering all these facts and adding to it deplorable, filthy cages, very
little food and no medical care, cabin fever seems a day at the beach.
I suggest a solution for both situations. Start this new year by adopting one
of these doomed animals. Let there be life not death. What better way to add
pleasure to your life? You will enjoy the experience of having a new companion
and friend, one that is loyal and loving. Knowing you saved a precious
innocent, your home will now be filled with new delights and camaraderie.
Bask in your souls true beauty, the special essence of love, compassion and
oneness we share with all living beings. Inform others of your wise and caring
actions, encouraging them to adopt a new family member from one of these Animal
Shelters that indulge in the fine art of Euthanasia (killing).
This world and each one of our lives is a special gift, share it, cherish it
and always reach out to those in need. Protect all of earths' creatures, for we
are the shepherds and we must lead in honor.
Linda Beane
Editor: Animals In Print
LJBeane1@aol.com
http://www.all-creatures.org/aip/
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~4~
Fur
Farming Banned in England and Wales from 2003
SOURCE:
http://www.number-10.gov.uk/news.asp?NewsId=3345&SectionId=30
The ban on fur farming will come into force on
January 1, 2003, under the Fur Farming (Prohibition) Act 2000 (Commencement)
Order 2001.
From January 2003, it will be illegal in England and Wales to keep animals
solely or primarily for slaughter for the value of their fur.
After January 1, 2002, fur farmers who incur losses as a result of the ban will
be able to submit claims for compensation, as set out in the Fur Farming
(Compensation Scheme) (England) Order 2001. These Orders were made under the
Fur Farming (Prohibition) Act 2000, which received Royal Assent on November 23,
2000.
The Compensation Scheme Order sets out the conditions for entitlements to
compensation and the categories of income and non-income losses for which
compensation is payable. The rest of the Order looks at the procedure for fur
farmers to make claims for compensation and for the Minister to deal with such
claims.
Fur farmers can close at any time between November 23, 2000, and January 1,
2003, when the ban comes into force, without losing eligibility for
compensation. The legislation provides for disputes over compensation to be
settled by arbitration or the Lands Tribunal.
Animal Welfare Minister Elliot Morley said:
"I am pleased that fur farming will be banned from 2003. Fur farming is
not consistent with a proper value and respect for animal life and it is right
and proper for the Government to have introduced this ban."
"However, the Government recognizes the need for fair compensation to be
made available to the fur farmers put out of business by this ban. The views of
interested parties have been taken into account in producing the compensation
scheme and I consider that it is a fair and reasonable scheme."
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~5~
New York Nightclubs Go Furless
Two of Manhattan's top nightclubs, Spa and Centro-Fly,
are publicizing their no-fur entry policies. Hip-hop artist Sean
"Puff Daddy" Combs was recently denied entrance to Spa until he left
his fur behind. While "Puff Daddy" complied with Spa's "No
Fur" sign, supermodel Naomi Campbell refused and threw a fit at the door
protesting the policy, according to Steve Lewis, owner of the club.
Centro-Fly has started to work with the People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals to promote the club's no-fur policy. "There's no reason for
the vanity of fur," said owner Tom Sisk. "Put it back in your limo or
sport utility vehicle."
Both Sisk and Lewis are both working with PETA to raise public awareness of the
issue, with upcoming celebrity events at their clubs.
Read the entire news story at
With
or Without Celebrities, Nightclubs Shed Fur
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011231/lf/leisure_nightclubs_dc_1.html
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~6~
Federal Court Promotes
Vegetarianism
While ruling on an Illinois case involving the
sale of rotten meat, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals questioned the
prudence of eating meat and poultry. The case involved a random USDA inspection
of a warehouse which uncovered rotten meat and poultry, some bearing expiration
dates from years past, and exposed meat covered with rodent feces. The court
also indicated that substantial evidence suggests that eating any meat or
poultry might not be such a good thing.
Referring to a Gallup Poll showing that 6% of American adults are vegetarian,
the court noted: "We think that percentage would jump dramatically
if the other 94 percent read the record in this case." The presiding judge
also wrote that the 3-judge panel would be recommending that more vegetables
and tofu burgers be served at future court dinners. The defendant was sentenced
to 24 months in prison.
See the full article at:
LEXIS-NEXIS
Tell Me More
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/more/sosland/19469/7788208/1
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~7~
Free to a Good Home Ads
by EnglandGal@aol.com
My local paper (The Tampa Tribune) runs the
following ad in the Dogs/Cats for sale section every week. Please contact
your local paper and request they follow in the footsteps of the Tampa Tribune
and do the same. Here's the ad:
NOTICE: ADS FOR FREE PETS
Your beloved pet deserves a loving, caring home. The ad for your free pet
may draw response from individuals who will sell your animal for research or
breeding purposes. Please screen carefully when giving your pet away, your pet
will thank you!
The Tampa Tribune
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~8~
New Year's Wishes
from ParkStRanger@aol.com
* May you never, ever, at dinner, have to sit
across from lower humanoids who pick their teeth with bones.
* May you only break bread with fellow vegans.
* May you learn to understand your cat (this one is both a blessing and a
curse).
* May you find at least one more way to avoid products that exploit animals or
a way to champion their many causes. (Veganism is a path, there is always more
we can do.)
* May you find enlightenment and the blessings that you deserve as an animal
protector.
* May you find the love in your heart, and the place in your home to shelter
one more homeless animal, or at least to make life a more pleasant experience
for one of the many beings who don't have the good life we have.
* May you have peace and love and happiness in the new year and forever.
-Park StRanger
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~9~
A
Plea to Nature
by Marguerite Wegner
I call on sun and wind and rain,
to put the Earth in order again.
I call on scientists to stop
genetically engineering the crops
For those subjecting animals to hell,
to stop the slaughter houses as well,
and of people to multiply much less
to relieve the Earth of overpopulation stress.
For mankind to return the earth to a time
when peace and harmony reigned divine,
and greenhouse gasses were unknown,
as across the world mankind did roam.
If mother nature, you hear my plea,
and return the bounties to the sea,
I will try to spread the word
that overfishing is absurd.
Please give us all a second chance,
and allow us your beauty to enhance
with human children born to know
to respect nature as they grow.
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~10~
Memorable Quote
"Behold, I have given you every herb bearing
seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the
fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."
~ God
(Genesis 1: 29)
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Susan Roghair - EnglandGal@aol.com
Animal Rights Online
P O Box 7053
Tampa, Fl 33673-7053
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/1395/
-=Animal Rights Online=-
&
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not-for-profit publisher of The Animals' Agenda Magazine
http://www.animalsagenda.org/
The Animals' Agenda Magazine: WebEdition
«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»§«¤»¥«¤»
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