Animal rights,
AIDS research go hand in hand.
Knight Ridder/Tribune
News Service; 6/21/1996
KRT FORUM
By Dave Pasquarelli
It is a sad commentary
on the current conservative shift of radical AIDS activism that certain
members of ACT UP have chosen to attack animal rights supporters.
In recent press
releases and articles in major metropolitan newspapers, members of ACT
UP Washington, D.C., and ACT UP Golden Gate have joined conservative
drug company front groups like Project Inform, the National Association
for Biomedical Research and the National Association of People with
AIDS in condemning the activities of People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA) and others determined to end the enslavement and suffering
of animals.
As an HIV-infected
gay man and a member of ACT UP San Francisco, I support the work of
PETA and the use of direct action tactics by animal rights activists
to demand the humane treatment of animals and the end of species exploitation.
I believe that the
recent self-serving media generated by certain people with AIDS and
the organizations with which they are affiliated is rooted in petty
politics, egocentrism and a desire to capitalize on the media generated
by World Animal Awareness Week (June 18 - 24) rather than a sincere
desire to examine the facts and engage in dialogue. Furthermore, their
arrogant opinions do not constitute any sort of consensus among national
ACT UP chapters or people with AIDS. Their spurious comments only serve
to trivialize the importance of both ending AIDS and the struggle for
animal liberation.
It seems to me that
animal-rights activists and people with AIDS (PWAs) have much more in
common than they have at odds. Both animals and PWAs are presently being
exploited by the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries in their relentless
quest to increase profits. It is up to the rank and file to challenge
both types of exploitation with direct action tactics and civil resistance.
Accusations that
animal rights supporters ``threaten AIDS research'' by a handful of
AIDS organizations and PWAs who accept pharmaceutical industry contributions,
and consequently tow the biomedical party line, must be viewed with
suspicion. The reality is that in the last 15 years of this epidemic,
AIDS research has thrived on conflict of interest and has been predicated
on profit and greed. In the end, such product-oriented research has
yielded nothing but expensive, toxic anti-viral drugs, dashed hopes
and a mountain of bodies dead from AIDS.
To subsequently
blame the colossal failure of AIDS research in ending this holocaust
on the efforts of animal rights activists is frighteningly fascist and
patently revisionist. In fact, the conservative leanings of opponents
to animal rights can be seen in recent statements by Frankie Trull of
the National Association for Biomedical Research and Steve Michael of
ACT UP Washington, D.C., who label the support of humane treatment of
animals as misguided and ``politically correct'' _ a buzzword concocted
by the right wing to dismiss discussions of crucial issues like civil
rights for blacks, gays and women.
In their attempts to malign supporters of animal rights, these diseased
minds claim that ``many people with AIDS are staying healthy longer
because of medications developed through animal testing.'' However,
they offer no bona fide proof of such medications or the types of animal
testing that have proved ``beneficial'' in bringing these medications
to market.
Even if such proof
were offered, this does not give human beings the right to utilize other
creatures' lives for their own purposes or negate the pain and suffering
endured by animals in lab tests.
The reality is that
none of the currently approved anti-HIV medications have been proven
to delay the onset of opportunistic infections, extend the survival
time or improve the quality of life for people with AIDS, with or without
animal testing. AZT, 3TC, ddl, ddC and the current crop of protease
drugs are dangerous and immunosuppressive, yet extremely profitable
for manufacturers like Glaxo-Wellcome and Abbott.
Furthermore, the
sensationalistic pie-in-the-sky xenotransplantation of baboon bone marrow
stem cells into AIDS patient and ACT UP Golden Gate member Jeff Getty
proved to be nothing but a brutal effort in futility. To subsequently
tout such an utter failure in AIDS research as ``support'' for continued
experimentation on animals is deceptive, unnecessary and cruel.
In the end I do
not accept the notion that the struggle for animal liberation and the
demand for an end to AIDS are mutually exclusive endeavors. Those who
promote such a fallacy are either irrational, mean-spirited, bought-out
or all of the above.
To animal rights
supporters everywhere I proclaim my solidarity.
Dave Pasquarelli
is a member of ACT UP San Francisco, 1388 Haight St., Box 218, San Francisco,
Calif. 94117. He wrote this for People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, P.O. Box 42516, Washington, D.C. 20015.
1884 Market St 
