Pentagon accused of pig victimization
Published: 09 April, 2009, 16:36
Edited: 11 March, 2010, 14:22
Animal rights activists take issue with the Pentagon’s alleged mistreatment of swine after revelations that military researchers have been blowing up pigs to check the efficacy of body armour worn by American soldiers.
Under the research guided by the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), live pigs have been dressed in body armor and strapped inside Humvees before these vehicles were blown up.
The project aims to establish whether wearing body armour might increase the risk of damage to the brain as the pressure of blasts is diverted from the torso to the head. It doesn’t.
DARPA says thanks to the pigs, they learned a lot of valuable information.
"If the use of animal subjects in testing results in our ability to save lives or prevent injury to our troops, we're confident this is the right thing to do," Jan Walker, a spokeswoman for DARPA, told the Independent newspaper.
Meanwhile, animal defenders demand DARPA stop using pigs and other animals, and like other military labs, use high-tech crash-test dummies or other substitutes.
"Is this the best they can do after several years of losing soldiers to roadside bombs?" wonders Martin Stephens, vice-president for animal research at the Humane Society of the United States.
"People are not pigs," pointedly notes Stephens. "I think the relevance of this (research) is highly questionable."
Despite the Pentagon's resistance, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals organization has come up with horrible figures – at least 320,000 animals have been hurt or killed during the Department of Defence experiments.
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1 comment
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I have thee best idea to help pacify all those crying over those poor piggies: blow up the animal activists! They destroy homes & businesses, beat & mutilate people they find to be 'abusive' to animals (such a working in a lab or serving meat in their restaurants) & have even been known to murder. As the human is an animal, one that was made to be an omnivore mind you, I find it repulsive & disgusting that those who proclaim to be 'animal activists' would do such horrific things to their own kind & even kill animals that they are supposed to be caring for & adopting out to new homes, often as they are driving away from the places they had picked them up & are against using animals for things that can help save the lives of not just people, but othetr animals. I hope these 'vigilantes' of animal cruelty sign up to be used for these trials, as we certainly need less of them in this world. They should be ashamed of themselves, especially those who side with PETA & The Humane Society, who get HUGE amounts of donations which they use solely for their lavish lifestyles & to bail out terrorists who do the atrocious things I mentioned earlier which they is for 'animal activism.' Shame on these hypocrites!