Ahaha, half expected them to do this. They think they can appeal to young guys on this matter.
The Problem with PETA is that they're priorities are screwed up. The over-empathize with animals. They can't help but shove our values into animals, and then pretend that the animals have the same values as humans.
In short, they've watched one too many disney films and it's gone to their head that animals are just like humans. Of course, from a biological standpoint, humans are just another animal, but we're a different TYPE of animal. Human values are uniquely human. They aren't found in any other animal (well, there's very little evidence that animals think like humans do).
Okay, sure altruism exists in some animals. Animals can co-operate, we've all seen what ants can do. But show me an animal that has a communications system as complex as the human language! Show me an animal that has formed a political philosophy. Show me an animal that comprehends its own evolution!
People have said - animals don't have hands or mouths, that's the only difference! Not so - apes and chimpanzees have hands. Not fully functioning hands, but hands nonetheless. Scientists have tried, for DECADES to teach chimpanzees language. And to some extent, chimpanzees can use tools and use a primitive sign language, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't educate the chimps to the same level as a 5 year old human, even after many decades. If a Chimpanzee really had the same mental capacity as a human, they would have been able to. But they don't, and that's painfully clear via the experimental data.
Humans are the smartest creature on the planet. Not necessarily the nicest, and certainly we are extremely self-destructive. But we are still the smartest. You can point to all the wars and all the pollution and cry "well, it doesn't seem that way!" but I would contend that animals would be just as nasty if they had the same level of technology. What limits the other species destructive potential isn't their inherent kindness, but their lack of technology and organizational capability.
Animals are no nicer than humans. A wild bear would tear a human apart in the wild. A pack of dogs would do the same. Animals kill the hell out of each other. They don't posses the qualities of kindness or mercy in any greater quantity than humans.
But what bothers me most about PETA is their absolute hatred for their own species, Homo sapiens sapiens. I can get along with Vegetarians and Vegans. Actually, I think their struggle to avoid animal meat is kind of noble, if a bit detrimental to their health (you need Iron people). But I can't get along with PETA - who argue that saving animal lives comes above testing for cancer drugs.
Sorry, but I am an actual Molecular Biologist. I have a Master's Degree, and I'm going for a Doctorate. I have extensively researched this topic, and there really IS NO OTHER WAY to test drugs. Testing on humans would not only be far worse than testing on mice from an ethical standpoint, but would be incredibly impractical! We can't control the genotypes of humans without forced breeding, we can't keep humans in cages for testing, and it would be 1000 times more expensive to feed and shelter human test subjects.
And no, we can't test on cell cultures only. Cell culture tests and other in vitro tests are useful, and we do use these tests often BEFORE we go onto animal tests, but testing drugs on a mono-culture of cells in a tube does not give the same data as testing on a full biological system, like a mouse. To go into the science would take all afternoon, but take my word for it, it's just not practical. Maybe 50 years in the future, when we can grow organs in the lab, we might be able to abandon animal testing, but for now, we can't.
On the molecular level, the biological mechanics of how a mouse cell works is actually quite similar to how humans work. Mice share many of the same genes, many of the same proteins. Many (but not all!) of the differences between mice and humans occurs in how the cells are organized as opposed to how they work on the molecular level. Believe me, we can get REALLY USEFUL data on how proteins work and how cell membranes behave by studying mouse cells. Really. We can.
And, through selective breeding, we can control the genotypes of the mice so as to eliminate genetic variables in our experiments. We CAN'T do that with humans - we can't force human siblings to mate. And humans take decades to grow. Mice take weeks or months.
PETA lies to people about how we don't need animal testing. They lie, because they have an ideological goal - the complete "emancipation" of all animals, as if humans were the only species that killed other species (they conveniently forget the fact that nature itself has killed off millions or even billions of species and will continue to do so). PETA are willing to destroy the medical and scientific community, just so a mouse can live to the ripe old age of 2 years. PETA are a bunch of animal worshipping, self-loathing lunatics, who simply don't CARE about you or any potential human suffering. They only care about animals.
Which is one reason I'm not worried about them. They're the lunatic brigade. They'll never be popular with their current views.
Want a society that does care for animals, and is also SANE!?! Try the HUMANE society. Those guys are good. Not PETA.
