Protestors have disturbing views
By Andrew Vidrine
The Daily Utah Chronicle - Opinion
Issue: 10/13/04

Editor:

I saw a group of students who were protesting animal research at the U in the news the other day ("Animal-rights activists march on campus to end testing," Oct. 6). Jeremy Beckham of the Utah Primate Freedom Project said the public should know "how their tax dollars are being spent."

Wondering what all the fuss was about, I decided to take his advice and did a little research. I learned that animal research has been instrumental in the development of many vaccines (including smallpox, anthrax, rabies, tetanus, polio and rubella) and surgical procedures (such as open-heart surgery and organ transplantations), as well as many other important advances of knowledge, saving countless millions of lives, dramatically reducing infant mortality rates, and increasing our average life span by 30 years in the past century.

Is that what his group was protesting?

I also investigated Beckham's views and found them quite disturbing. On his group's Web site, he makes thinly veiled threats of violence against researchers, saying that if the public doesn't back his goals soon, he "will have little recourse but to escalate to more direct tactics until we are heard," and a researcher with whom he has tried to arrange a debate "may soon wish he had taken us up on our offer."

Of course, the veil over the threats vanishes altogether when one reads some of Beckham's other rants, in which he openly advocates violent tactics, making it all too clear what "direct tactics" to which he is willing to "escalate."

But I'd like to thank Beckham for bringing this issue to my attention and convincing me to look into it for myself-it was quite eye-opening.

Still, especially since I have personally witnessed his recruitment strategies, I therefore have doubts about the sincerity and seriousness of many of his fellow protesters.

In all, I have to wonder why the demonstration was considered newsworthy.

Andrew Vidrine

Senior, Philosophy