# Peta **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 17, 2003, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta/175959 "2003-05-17T23:04:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Emperor\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c2a13f/32.png) [@Emperor\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emperor_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta/175959/81 "2003-05-20T19:35:27Z")
Curse you **Kiger**!! ::shakes fist:: Beating me to the punch and making me look bad, what with all of your fancy quotes and such… [sub]grumble, grumble…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Kiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiger)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta/175959/82 "2003-05-20T19:43:47Z")
Don’t feel bad. I messed up and forgot to edit out the non-PETA spokespeople quotes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta/175959/83 "2003-05-20T19:51:47Z")
**koeeoaddi** mentions Pasado’s Safe Haven above. That’s the only one I’ve seen mentioned thus far, but there must be others. Hopefully some exist on the national level. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2003, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta/175959/84 "2003-05-20T20:26:00Z")
**Queer Geek Girl** -the fanatics are not only the majority of PETA, but they are IN CHARGE OF. And that’s why I am disgusted by them. They spread lies and bullshit to further their cause-which in some cases is rather questionable. Comparing broiler chickens to those who perished in the Holocaust is morally reprehensible, in my view. Why not find a group out there that does the GOOD stuff, but isn’t run by assholes, like the ASPCA, or the Humane Society? What about PAWS? Ms. Newkirk is cordially invited to bite my backside. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta/175959/85 "2003-05-21T00:32:42Z")
I don’t **WANT** to stop eating meat… bottom line rant and rave all you want its your breathe you’re wasting. There is a no kill shelter here in Utah… the name slips my mind. _midnight:smack: thats the name_ yeah I always remember about then. ---
**Author:** ![Meros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Meros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meros)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta/175959/86 "2003-05-21T04:40:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pixelle \* > \*\*I don’t wish to sound rude, but unfortunately Meros, you and a few of the other posters in this thread are incredibly misinformed. It isn’t just a case of ‘a few animals’. \*\* You don’t sound rude at all **Pixelle** but perhaps this is a situation in which we both are misinformed. > [@](#): > > \*\*All this is done not because it’s absolutely necessary and there are no alternatives, but simply because it’s always been done this way and it’s cheap. So you have to remember when you exploit an animal thats the reason you’re doing it. > \*\* I perhaps should have been more clear with my statements. There are some forms of animal testing that I am dead against because they are unneccessary but are continued because, as you said, animal testing is cheaper. For the majority of cosmetics and _some_ drugs this is the case. We understand enough about the body that in some cases computer simulations could be run instead. In the situation i was discussing this is impossible. The testing being done on animals isn’t being done because it is cheaper or because it is easier but because it is the _only possible way_ to acquire the information our researchers are looking for. Our university has been the victim of many threats and attacks, by those claiming to be members of PETA and many other groups. So many of these occurred that the facility was shut down for quite a large number of years and was only recently reopened (albeit in a different and much more secure location) for this project and this project alone after months of heated debate. We don’t need to map the brain, that’s been done. A computer model of a rat brain is relatively easy to construct and we do have the super-computers that could run many different simulations based upon these models. However, the models must be based upon what we know and are therefore completely useless for the kind of information we need to collect to get the job done properly. You see, we aren’t trying to determine which neurons fire under a particular circumstance, those things are known and are very well mapped. You can buy entire reference sets on nothing but the layout of he neurons in the rat’s brain. What we do not know yet, and are trying to study, is _how_ these neurons fire under particular circumstances (ie, What is different about the firing pattern of the neurons controlling the center pad of the paw if the rat is walking on a smooth surface with no traction as oppossed to a textured surface) There’s no way to simulate these patterns as of yet because we simply do not know how they work. Unfortunately, the only way they can be studied is on the level of the individual neurons and the only way to isolate those signals is direct contact with an electrode. If there is a way that something we know absolutely nothing about can be simulated I personally do not know what it is. If there is in fact another way I would gladly bring it before my department and I have no doubt it would be implemented. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peta/175959.md?page=4)