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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1984)
Page 6, Portland Observer, November 21, 1984 Healthwatch •* r* by Steven Bailey N .D , Baby »«, the innocent, it no more, yet i. * issue« o f medical eth ics that he. t vgery brought to the fo re fro n t shall live fo r years to come. While the short term survival o f Fae exhibited the tremendous ability o f current chemotherapy to suppress organ rejection, the events surrounding the operation and cross-species experimentation have created a m ajor national debate. Unique to this debate is the loud vo cal dissention w ithin the ranks o f the allopathic medical community, the av a ila b iity o f the medical- research communities. Iron ically, amid this irious de bate, there has emerged » common irreverence for the opinions and ac tions o f anim al rights groups, as well as an avoidance of many broad er issues related t . <e Baby Fae case. Front page a r ti.. „ ' ' Ore gonian (O ct. 28, 84) have quoted authorities who referred to o b ‘— tions as "m isconceptions” id based on "e m o tio n a l rather th . clearly rational" grounds. M r. Ra.i berry, national columnist wrote " I have talked to them, and I have read their books on ‘animal rights' (N o v . 2, 84 O regonian p. C l I ) . I also wondered if his readings ex tended beyond current texts such as A n im a l L ib e ra tio n , and Tools f o r Experimentation, etc., and into the w ritings o f G h a n d i, W h itm a n , Thoreau, Christ and others whose reverence for life and nature extend ed beyond the myopic egotism prev alent in rapid technological growth. The debate over Baby Fae’ s op eration has questioned the blind de termination and self-regulation by the Loma Linda researchers. It has also addressed the current ability to sustain longterm survival using organs from non-human primates. Many researchers and medical doc tors have m aintained that in te r species transplants can only be viewed as an experim ent, and real benefits to Fae would be short term at best. W hile these issues are rele vant, broader issues addressed by many groups include: I — In the U .S . we spend over 10 percent o f our G N P (over 350 m il lion dollars) on medical costs each year. W h ile we d o n 't flin ch at spending millions on artificial hearts and organ transplants, we perm it poverty and poor pre-natal nutrition to contribute to the m a jo rity o f birth defects within the U .S. W hile ignoring preventative social health programs, we in d ivid ually rectify the problems o f a few with a com passionate display of high tech med icine. W ith our current knowledge o f pre-natal needs, the ill effects o f industrial chemicals and en viro n mental pollutants, and an ever- expanding volume o f inform ation on preventive and healthful habits, our excessive focus on drug thera pies, surgical remedies, and end stage life maintenance may actually be contributing to a less optimal na tional health standard. 2 — The use o f anim als in re search, medicine, industry and de fense is much greater than most people realize. Over 75 million ani mals are used each year in the U .S . with businesses breeding and selling laboratory animals like any other com m ercial p roduct. Re searchers are individuals, but as a whole their industry has shown a complete irreverence for the rights of animals. "Speciesism" is the current term for the common devaluation o f life related to the difference between hu mans and other species. Less than 200 years ago ethnic differences encountered similar opinions, and the use o f " in fe rio r" human stock for transplantation purposes may have been avoided solely by the technological restraints o f the time. It was no more than 50 years ago (hat Dr. Drew, developer o f plasma transfusion, died because a southern hospital refused to admit the Black doctor and provide the emergency transfusion for which he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Today I com m only see patients who, be cause o f financial lim itation s, re ceive emergency care that is con sistently less extensive than that pro vided to insured or finan cially re sponsible patients. 3— Animals w ill remain as tools for research for some t««e. W hat we, who speak out for out in-articu late friends, wish to d o, is create change. There are innum erable cases o f redundant experiments which give little or no new informa- lion to science. The LD50 procedure which requires that 50% o f a given population die by overdose to de termine safe limits o f the drug, has proven inaccurate in regards to o ro flex, thalidom ide, bendictine, acutane, etc., yet continues to be the industrial standard. This is in spite of human cell culture-alterna tives that are accurate and econom ical. The Draize test, which results in causing severe pain and the blind ing o f thousands o f rabbits yearly, can be replaced with sim ilar tests using the nerve cells o f chicken em- bryos. We want less exploitation of animals and a more objective review process o f animal experimentation. There it absolutely no reason to contend that science and human welfare w ill suffer with changes in experimental design and review, in fact the benefits o f change should be substantial. 4— Self-regulation by the research com m unity has proven itself in e f fective. The continued defiance by the Joslin Diabetes Center Research Laboratory o f Boston (to D e p a rt ment o f A gricu ltu re citations o f over a year ago regarding m inim al confinement violations) exem pli fies the problem . The recent local discovery o f starvations and dis ease at the Knutson Kennels, which was reported to have supplied re search facilities with stolen and dishonestly procured anim als, re veals another problem with self regulation. The practice o f pound seizure and the use o f domestic dogs and cats in research is a m ajor is sue which needs dramatic improve ment. * ? 5-Pound Boxes Only Great Pan Fried, Save 29< Per Pound, No Limit To Our Customers. Assorted Pork Chops Regular Ground Beef Chinook Salmon Roast 'Tí End & Canter Cuts Steaks, $4 28-Lb Large Sweet k Yams Concord Grape Juice Bel-air, 12-Oz., Frozen, Save 38* On 2, No Limit Add a delightful touch to your dinner with these sweet golden yams. They will spice up any meal. 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The discussion over the Baby Fae case w ill survive for decades, however there is no reason for the continued dichotom y between anim al advo cates and scientific progress, as they may well find mutual harmony in an enlightened future. ? • " ' * ' . I •/L d H H I O O B i H M M O B B O O O M i B e B M B e B B B e : ‘-Z . ' ? '
