...nothing for ages and then three come along at once.
This was a do it now or I'll forget again scenario; so having promised Anders I'd do it I thought I'd better...
I just got this in an email from him (and yes that is Anders as in Stefan and Kester...):
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5049723.html
There is a misquote or two and some dodgy info, for example 'Mr Gibson has been told by doctors he will die unless he gets a lung transplant by the age of 31'. The doctors haven't told me this, so don't write your eulogies yet.;)I have plans to go global in 2007.
Anders
Glad to hear he's not on the endagered species list - yet... I guess this helps him go global in 2006!
For many British young (and not so young) Quakers over the last 15 years or so the 'Anders question' as it has become known amongst us has challenged our principles and priorities. Basically he wouldn't still be with us if it wasn't for animal drug testing. It is very hard for a speaker coming to what they think is a sympathetic hall full of young people to talk about ethics to have someone stand up and point out that if it hadn't been for animal testing they wouldn't be standing there. What do you choose - your friend or your conscience? My answer has been to uncomfortably accept the reality that has ensured he's (thankfully) still with us but carry on rejecting out of hand the necessity for animal testing for beauty, cleaning products etc and food. Personally I'd rather far rather these things were just tested on humans and in many cases the products aren't even needed and are harmful to the environment one way or another. Having read Plague Dogs and Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH at a fairly young age my views on such animal testing are somewhat entrenched and established.
But Anders' current foray into the media circus is in aid of the organ donor register. Although 90% of the British population say they are willing to donate organs, only 22% fo the population are on the organ donor list. 400 people each year die wating for a transplant and sadly only 50% of those needing a lung transplant (which is what Anders will need) ever recieve one. There is a great shortage of organ donors! If in Britain please look at http://www.livelifethengivelife.co.uk/ which takes a positive look at organ donation and focuses on the benefits an individual can make by joining the organ donor list. If you are elsewhere then do find out how you can register your wishes in your own country.
Good luck to Roz who is running the Britannic Asset Management Women's 10K in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust on 31st May, if you can sponsor her please do. Thanks, from all of us who have lived knowing someone with CF and the knowledge that their time with us might well be short.
3 comments:
Anna, medical procedures and drugs are tested on humans. Animal testing is carried out first to ensure that the benefit/risk ratio is good enough to test them on humans.
I'm entirely with you on animal testing of cosmetics and other such non-essentials. For medical and surgical matters, however, I'm happy to accept the lower risk gained by the pre-clinical trials.
Of course, such efforts as Rosetta and other grid-computing supported research means that there is pre-testing and filtering before the animal testing stage, reducing the number of candidates for testing and making animal testing less of a fishing expedition.
I know drug testing etc happens on humans - I have friends working in that industry; I was referring to the, to me, unnecessary practice of using animals to test things like cosmetics and cleaning products etc.
Tell you what - I'll read your posts more carefully and you'll not beat me up *too* much :-)
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