000352 PETA's “Got Beer?” Brouhaha Is No Joke

Washington - The following was released by the Foundation for Biomedical Research:

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) drew plenty of attention this week encouraging college students to drink beer instead of milk. But it's the kind of attention that causes public relations professionals to scratch their heads and wonder.

Timed to coincide with St. Patrick's Day (itself a slight for many Irish- Americans), the “Milk Sucks ... Got Beer?” campaign was meant to be “fun” and “titillating”, according to Bruce Friedrich, PETA's vegetarian campaign coordinator. However, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was not amused and quickly attacked the campaign as irresponsible and dangerous. PETA reacted by pulling the campaign March 16.

Perhaps the public should be aware that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) spent over $3 million last year on public outreach and education, enrolling more than 4,125,700 students into its programs and reaching over 170,000 teachers and schools with its biased, anti-research message.

PETA is extremely active in U.S. schools, aggressively promoting an agenda of misinformation regarding the need for animals in biomedical research. Their aim is the end of the use of animals for any purpose.

Its special “education” presentations, which advocate an end to the use of animals for any reason, including medical research, seem to be welcome in public elementary, middle and high schools, and many states allow them and other animal rights groups free and open access to students. Forget recruitment on college campuses, PETA starts recruiting in grammar school.

Do PETA contributors -- many of them parents themselves -- know that their donations are being used in such a large-scale campaign to indoctrinate students against medical research facilities, not just encouraging kids to not eat meat or wear fur coats? Or that once part of the movement, these kids are then vulnerable to more extreme elements including those that advocate violence and criminal “direct” action against researchers?

The Foundation for Biomedical Research has been at the forefront of the animal research debate for more than 20 years, and includes many of the nation's leading experts in medicine and biomedical research. We will gladly arrange interviews and provide background materials on animal rights activity in our nation's classrooms. FBR President Frankie L. Trull is also available for interviews.

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