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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 3, 1989)
^Friday, November 3,1989 The Battalion Page 5 ergie begins 5-day tour f Texas with school visit HOUSTON (AP) — Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of ork, better known as “Fergie,” began a Five-day blitz of exas on Thursday with scheduled stops at city schools, ie Johnson Space Center, the Texas Medical Center and two Houston Grand Opera performances. Fergie, who was wearing a bright yellow and white Sprint dress with white gloves and white shoes, arrived at 5:30 p.m. — about an hour behind schedule — on a ritish Airways commercial flight. She was whisked away in a motorcade to perfor- tances at the Houston High School for Performing |tnd Visual Arts, where among those who waited to reet her were several students dressed in red wigs and loyal attire. I Student Mitch Kostner gave Fergie of bouquet of red roses and shook her hand. . “She said, ‘Are those for me?’” said Kostner, 16, aju- nior in the theatrical department of the school. “And I told her, ‘Of course they are.’ “Then she said, ‘They’re lovely, lovely flowers.’ She said lovely twice. Then she thanked me and shook my hand. It was just wonderful,” Kostner said. “I wanted to ask her to marry me, but I didn’t think that was protocol,” he added. Jaime Flowers, 16, also gave Fergie a bouquet of flow ers. “She was really nice,” said Flowers, also a junior at the school. “She was so beautiful. It’s amazing to me. The British press always criticize her and here in Amer ica we love her.” nimals i ((Continued from page 1) Bient and after the experiment, but ftot during,” Barnard said. I Only popular species of animals Jike dogs and cats are protected un- Htfer the act, Barnard said. The ro- •idents used in most experiments are ■fforded little or no protection, he ~j|aid. I Inspection is the only way to en sure the labs follow the rules, Bar- ■ard said, and few labs are tested and many of those fail to meet the standards. I One of the biggest problems of ( animal testing is the length of time Hequired to conduct experiments, he ■aid. Five- to ten-year-long experi- Bients are not unusual, he said, and Hiis means that new products take Hanger to reach the market and dan- Herous products stay on the shelves Hanger. I The technology exists to use cell Hultures and computers to aid the experiments and perhaps make em quicker, he said. “We need to start moving in that ^direction,” he said. Many businesses use animal test- g as a way to prolong their prod uct’s stay on the market, he said. ■ Dangerous chemical testing is a po litical issue, he said, and many times Hompanies convince the government |||o do more testing when the only re sult is that harmful products con- Ptiiuie being consumed. I Beside these problems, Barnard Ha id, “animal testing is highly prob- ''Tematic.” I Many researchers ignore factors t at can skew the results of experi- ents, Barnard said. I “Animals are not the same as hu- Inians,” he said, “animal cells are dif ferent. The cages used to keep the ani- lals can cause stress, he said, that an cause variances in the results ch ained. Isolation and overcrowding an alternately cause different prob- ems, he said. Noise, lights, chemi- als and lab technicians all cause the animals to act and react differently to stimuli, he said. “You need normal physiological responses to get proper results,” he said. Most of Howe’s talk focused on the results obtained through history using animal research. Advances made in the battles against cancer, lung disease, polio and many other diseases have come as a direct result of animal research, he said. “We have made tremendous ad vances,” he said, “and we have done it with the help of animals.” The issue of animal rights needs to be approached from a human perspective, he said. “What we are all about is alleviat ing human suffering,” he said. “We need to look at this issue from the eyes of the animals, the eyes of the guys in Washington and from the eyes of the people animal research helps.” Howe offered several personal stories of people who had been helped by technological advances af forded medicine through animal re search. He told about three Texans whose lives had come to a halt be cause of severe lung problems. These people were given lung trans plants and now lead fulfilling lives, he said. “Within two months, one of the men was playing on the beach in Port Aransas with his young daugh ter,” he said. “This was made possi ble because of research done with animals.” Howe agreed with Barnard that science needs to move toward other methods of research. But, he said, these methods are not advanced enough at this time to eliminate ani mal testing altogether. He supported this assertation by quoting Dr. Frank Young, the presi dent of the Food and Drug Adminis tration, as saying “there are no ad equate alternatives yet to the use of animals in research.” When asked to respond to Bar nard’s claim that animal research is not always accurate, Howe said he agreed to some extent. “To get caught up in that is to miss the point,” he said, “animal re search is useful in situations where there is a clear corollary and we need to use it in those situations.” Howe continued by saying money is needed to develop other methods of research while animal testing is being used today. “That is utter nonsense,” Barnard said. “If we do not push for research today, we will never get any new methods and we will still have the carnage we have today.” Howe responded by telling Bar nard he “needs to spend some time at the bedside of some of these sick kiddos.” Barnard sternly replied, “I did not spend four years in medical school and four years as an intern to be told I need to visit a patient. We need to cure these children by study ing cancer cells, not using animals.” Barnard said many of the drugs that appear safe in animals prove otherwise when used on human sub jects. “It is a mistake to think that some thing tested safe in animals will be failsafe,” he said. When asked how he felt about an imals being used in medical school, Barnard said they are unnecessary and the technology exists to train students with computers. He said there are at least a dozen medical schools in the country that do not use animals in their labs. Howe concluded by mentioning the radical animal rights groups and the fact that one of the groups broke into and vandalized a Texas Tech University lab. “I hope the use of force and ter rorism will not be what decides is sues like this in this country,” he said. Barnard stressed the need to be gin immediately to look for alterna tives to animal testing. “We don’t know where we will end up but we need to start so tomorrow we will end up somewhere besides where we are today.” The debit card Points Plus Is a service with the convenience of Aggie Bucks all over Bryan-College Station It’s Easy to get your New Points Plus Card Follow these Steps: 1. Call 846-9085 to pre-register for your Points Pius card. 2. Check your mail for your New Points Plus Card. 3. You can activate your account at any time by sending your deposit check. 4. You are ready to use your card at businesses all over Bryan-College Station. Pre-register Ags, for your Points Plus Card. 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