Animal Rights Movement and Medical Experiments

You say, “To save the life of the lowliest child fated to live in the meanest circumstances in the most backward village in the furthest reaches of Bangladesh, we would countenance--regretfully, perhaps even tearfully--the death of any animal hamster to great whale.”

Who is “we?” What has this “we” ever done to save the life of the lowliest child in the poorest village in Bangladesh? Do you think that because you do not support the animal rights movement, you can credit yourselves with saving the lives of the sick, starving children in distant lands?

The dying child in Bangladesh for whom you would sacrifice any animal will die despite all the suffering of all the animals, despite all the advances in medicine. That child will die of the inability to obtain the food and medicine that exist right now. That child will die because, though we would sacrifice any animal to save a child, we will not make any sacrifices ourselves.

GERALD ANTHONY BRADLEY

Santa Barbara