It feels great to have done my last book event for the year and to get back to DawnWatch. It is particularly great to come back on a day, Monday December 15, when USA Today, the most highly circulated newspaper in the US, includes an op-ed piece headed "Replace Animal Experiments." (pg 11A)

The article is by John J. Pippin, a senior medical and research adviser with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. To learn more about that group, which focuses on the dangers to humans inherent in tests on animals, check out www.PCRM.org

Pippin opens by condemning recent attacks on researches (such as car bombings at UCLA) saying, "In addition to being anathema in our society, such tactics obscure important issues regarding animal experiments and human health."

He tells us he is a cardiologist and a former animal researcher who "came to doubt the medical value of such research."

He writes:
"Numerous reports confirm very poor correlations between animal research results and human results, and the research breakthroughs so optimistically reported in the media almost always fail in humans.

"Examples abound."

And he gives some compelling examples such as noting that "simple aspirin produces birth defects in at least seven animal species, yet is safe in human pregnancy."

He asks, "When even identical human twins have different disease susceptibilities, how can we think answers will be found in mice or monkeys?"

Then he tells us:
"The National Cancer Institute now uses panels of human cells and tissues to test treatments for cancer and HIV/AIDS, and to detect drug toxicities. And the National Research Council now recommends replacing animal toxicity testing with in vitro methods."

Pippin ends with:
"I can attest that animal research is inherently cruel. Animal protection laws do not mitigate this reality. Whether the debate involves humane issues or human benefits, the evidence confirms the need to replace animal experiments with more accurate human-specific methods. That's the best way to make progress and improve health."

You'll find the full piece on line at: http://tinyurl.com/5ou5la

Please, keep the discussion alive on the country's most highly circulated editorial page with letters to the editor appreciative of the op-ed and in favor of alternatives to animal testing. USA Today takes letters at http://tinyurl.com/hvsuz

Yours and the animals',
Karen Dawn

(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line. If somebody forwards DawnWatch alerts to you, which you enjoy, please help the list grow by signing up. It is free.)

Please go to www.ThankingtheMonkey.com to read reviews of Karen Dawn's new book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals" and watch the fun celebrity studded promo video.