THE CIVIL RIGHTS OF THE TRICHINA WORM

"...to retain absolute natural rights for our own species while withholding them from other species is, in my view, antideluvian¾or, to be more accurate, pre-Darwinian. What distinguishes this viewpoint from the ethnocentricity of those tribes whose members think that they are the only humans and that people of neighboring tribes can be slaughtered like pigs?"

The animal-righters share a basic principle with the sham-environmentalists and peaceniks: they appeal to a noble sentiment (love of animals, a clean environment, peace) in order to trap their credulous followers into a totally different agenda¾in this case, anti-science and de-industrialization. They are also reminiscent of the "Earth First!" thugs in that their methods of peaceful reasoning include spray-paint vandalism, window smashing and laboratory destruction. Although they were particularly active before the 1984 California Animals' Rights Initiative (which was mercifully defeated), misguided parrots keep taking up their cry.

"You will use no medicines at all because their biological effects¾ both good and bad¾have been determined through experiments on animals. You will choose to die rather than accept surgery or a life-threatening condition because not only is most surgical technique the result of animal research, but all anesthetics came from animal research. You will have to avoid many foods because much of what is known about safe preservation of food resulted from tests with living organisms. And of course you will have to forego veterinary care for your pets, because veterinary know-how is clearly and directly the result of animal research."