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LETTERS IN THE EDITOR'S MAILBAG.

Article Excerpt
Byline: The Register-Guard

Questions on animal treatment

A recent glance at some University of Oregon help wanted ads left me with some disturbing questions about our liberal university.

Is my my alma mater involved in some backward and cruel practices? It seems the Laboratory Animal Tech position involves not just the expected cage cleaning, but also restraining animals, administering medicine and injections, euthanizing, taking blood samples and other serious chores. Is this a job for an aspiring veterinarian? Nope, they won't get experienced hands for $9 to $11 an hour.

The ad goes on to mention potential exposure to zoonotic diseases with animals that may have been exposed to chemical, biological or radioactive materials. What, exactly, is that department doing to animals, and why, I'd like to know.

Though our current bullying political climate hopes to curb a reasonable question like this, I hope I am not the only one asking. A glance at the Web site of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine makes clear that there are precise, cost-effective and humane ways to investigate human health problems and conduct scientific research.

Or, if you can stomach it, read "The Dog Who Spoke With God." It's a melodrama, all right, but Northwest writer Diane Jessup cuts straight to the heart of the question of how we use animals. Perhaps if more of us opened our eyes to moral issues like this one, and confronted our collective conscience, there would be fewer eco-terrorists-in-training....

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