People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - Research Paper Example

Researched Analysis of PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Introduction: “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals” is an Organization which focuses on the rights of animals. PETA is the most popular and the largest organization for animals. It carries out various campaigns around the world to stop cruelty and ill treatment towards animals. Its slogan is “animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, or use for entertainment”. PETA was founded by Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco in March 1980. The organization has around 300 people working for it, and more than 2 billion followers and supporters. “Silver Spring Monkeys” case was the organizations first case in the year 1981. The case was about 17 macaque monkeys which were used to conduct experiments in researcher Edward Taub’s “Institute of Behavioral Research” in Silver Spring of Maryland. Pacheco joined the institute in order to gain experience in animal research laboratory. He found that Taub used to cut the “sensory ganglia” of monkeys that provides them nerves to hands, legs, arms and fingers. This process is called “deafferentation” which causes the monkeys to lose sensation in their hands, legs, arms and fingers. Some of the monkeys’ entire spinal columns were deafferentad. He used to starve the monkeys for food and water, and even used to give electric shocks in order to force the monkeys to use the deafferentad body parts. Pacheco took the pictures of the sufferings as well as the filthy conditions in which the monkeys were living, and provided them as evidence for the police. This led to a raid in the laboratory and the arrest of Taub. Taub was later convicted for animal cruelty. PETA focuses on the four major areas where animals are subjected to suffer namely- In Research Laboratories In Garment Industry Entertainment Farming Enterprise It also deals with issues of killing animals in a cruel manner, sufferings of domestic animals, killing of birds and pests. Ethical issues related to the animal began in the 1960s in Europe. Ethical treatment of the animal consists of Animal Welfare and Animal Rights. The goal of animal right is ending at the time every animal use clothing, medical research, food, entertainment or hunting. At the same time Animal Welfare demands that all the animals should be used and treated humanely. Animals can be used for various types of purpose, but the humane treatment and duty of care lies mainly with the human being. Welfare of animal welfare is the theory which upholds that it is ethically acceptable to make use of nonhuman animals for various types of human purposes as long as they are treated kindly like human being and do not inflict needless suffering on them. The main aim of animal welfare is the various types of regulation of the use of animal. Like the animal rights theory upholds that we have no ethical explanation for using nonhuman animals for human purposes on the other hand gently we treat them. The main aim of animal rights is to get rid of the use of animals. A fundamental constituent of the ethical explanation of the research of animal behavior is the communication of outcome. The researcher has an ethical duty to try to publish the outcome as completely, extensively and as precisely as possible. Doing this reduces the chance of more animals being used in needless duplicate studies to produce similar, redundant information or data. “Widespread (global) communication of results is a ‘benefit’ factor in many models of the ethical assessment of animals and thus communication of results increases the benefits of the work. To demonstrate that an ethical assessment has been made, the ethical justification for choice of research and experimental design can be included. This will promote understanding and communication concerning the ethical issues and dilemmas in research involving animals” (International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE) – Guidelines for Ethical Treatment for Animals in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research 11). PETA encourage veganism, a philosophy of rights of animal far more fundamental than vegetarianism. Veganism, in addition to it can be represented precisely, is the perfect that no animal foodstuff is consumed in any method, not even eggs or milk, and that no damage of any type is done by human beings to any animal for the reason that there is no moral dissimilarity among animals and humans. PETA’s also protests in opposition to animal testing of various types of cosmetics, that apply to animals’ skin or eyes to test for protection and toxicity, created Avon so much suffering that the corporation announced in June 1990 it would hang the tests with no consistent option to find out the safety of their goods to their consumers. Additionally, a PETA Catalog provides a video of testing a product on rabbits at the centre of Bio search, a Philadelphia laboratory, that claiming the exposé by any one of undercover examiner s to have been "instrumental in the proscription of these type of cruel tests by various major organizations consisting of Estee Lauder, Avon, Benetton, and Revlon. “The National Institutes of Health and the American Medical Association have expressed concern over what PETA and other animal rights groups are doing to public health and safety” (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). PETA is a global nonprofit business establishment that supports mainly the Rights of the Animal and has spawned a tremendous quantity of conflict and argument from its inception. The head a quart of this business establishment is in Norfolk, since 1996, was established by Ingrid Newkirk in 1980, who had worked at a shelter of animal. PETA give its main attention on the four areas in which the major numbers of animals undergo the most intensity for the highest periods of time. Factory, Entertainment Industry, Farms Laboratories and Clothing Trade are the four main areas. PETA also used various celebrities for most of their promotion and campaigns activity with the intention of get attention. PETA strongly thinks in protecting the privacy and integrity of personal information composed from visitors and members to the Web sites. According to PETA, every animal have their own rights, too, just as human beings do. “The name, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, certainly demonstrates they are concerned for animal’s rights. It is clear the mission of the organization is to prevent animal cruelty in every aspect, from raising animals for food, to how these animals are slaughtered and processed for human consumption, to helping animals suffering and dying in laboratories, on factory farms, in the fur industry, in circuses, and in other forms of entertainment” (Critical Analysis of PETA Web Site). Working Procedure of PETA: PETA activists work hard for the rights of the animals. They educate the people about the sufferings of the animals. They make sure that people know how animals are treated in research laboratories, farming enterprises, and other areas where they are used. The Organization action plans investigations at these centers to stop any kind of cruelty, done to the animals. If they find any animal being subjected to cruelty they rescue it. PETA creates laws for the rights of animals. They carry out events to help animals. The Organization also undertakes campaigns in order to protest any kind of cruelty. They involve celebrities in different campaigns, which creates a great impact on the issue. Publicity Schemes of PETA: PETA adapts different schemes for its publicity. One could say that its publicity pattern has played a major role in getting such a huge response from people all around the world. Their slogans are thought provoking. “Meat is Murder”, “I’d rather go naked than wear fur” are some of the slogans that have grabbed a lot of public attention. The organization aims at the eradication of cruelty to animals. It knows all the tactics needed in pulling the crowd, some of which include use of short phrases, eye catching images, and banners. They would discuss some issues related to animals in their chat show, organize debates and also try to involve as many people as possible in them. PETA targets the following: Common People – To educate and convince them to stop using fur and cosmetics from companies that test the product on animals. Business – To make changes in their ways so that they do not use animals in it. Lawmakers – For new laws. Media – PETA gets a free coverage in the media with its campaigns including celebrities. Their publicity strategy or rather “publicity stunts” are well known globally. These have placed PETA in the midst of controversies over the period. It uses nudity in its campaigns or programs. One always has the question in mind why PETA sometimes use nudity in its campaigns. The answer to this question is given in the PETA website itself. The organization admits that it is difficult to reach out to a large amount of crowd around the world; with celebrities and activists ready to get stripped instead of wearing fur do grab a lot of attention from people and the media. Thus it passes the message world wide. PETA uses cute and lovely animals in their events, involves rockstars, professional models and other celebrities in their campaigns. They use striking words and sentences for messages which make headlines. They are very creative with their work which catches limelight. There publicity strategy is very interesting and always pass a message. They make people think. PETA is the biggest animal rights organization in the world, with 3 million supporters and members. PETA concentrates its interest on the four aspects in which the biggest numbers of animals endure a lot of sufferings for the highest period of time: in industrial unit farms, in laboratories, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment business. It has been explained as certainly the most flourishing radical organization in USA. The word ‘radical’ is highly significant in this context. PETA aims at total animal liberation, according to its co-founder and president, Ingrid Newkirk. It means there should be no dairy or meat; other than that, it also denotes no circuses, no aquariums, no fishing or hunting, no leather or fur, and no medical investigations using animals. PETA is even against the use of seeing-eye dogs. “In the past, PETA has handled the press for the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), a violent, underground group of fanatics who plant firebombs in restaurants, destroy butcher shops, and torch research labs. The FBI considers ALF among America's most active and prolific terrorist groups, but PETA compares it with Underground Railroad, and the French Resistance. More than 20 years after its inception, PETA continues to hire convicted ALF militants and funds their legal defense” (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). In an attempt to win have additional media attention, PETA has espoused the counter-intuitive process of buying stock in food and restaurant companies that work and sell meat. After trading just sufficient shares to qualify, PETA's model is to introduce shareholder decisions that would require animal rights oriented preparations in the way animals are slaughtered and handled. From both legal and ethical point of view, there are also a lot of offensive remarks about PETA. Following are these view points: PETA is Not an Animal Wellbeing Industry: PETA spends below 1% of its multi-million dollar budget on assisting animals. The group killed more than 1,900 animals in the 2003; that’s more than 85% of the animals it received. Actually, by the end of 2003, PETA killed more than 10,000 cats, dogs and other "companion animals" at Norfolk, headquarters of Virginia. That accounts for more than five animals daily. In the 2002 federal income-tax return, PETA claimed $9,370 as cost for a giant walk-in freezer, the category most people use as an ice-cream store or as a meat locker. Other than animal-rights, the activists don't eat dairy or meat foods. So far, the group hasn't established clarity in using the appliance to collect the bodies of its losses. PETA Assaults Ordinary Decency: “PETA's leadership has compared animal farmers to a serial killer (and cannibal) Jeffrey Dahmer. They proclaimed in a 2003 exhibition chickens were as valuable as Jewish Holocaust victims. They announced with a 2001 billboard that a shark attack on a little boy was "revenge" against humans who had it coming anyway. They have branded parents who feed their kids meat and milk "child abusers"” (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). PETA peddles its "animal liberation" food preparation in a medical front group that affects to offer and use nutritional advice: The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has duped the press into considering that it is a group of careful doctors encouraging good food. Actually, it is the PETA group. PETA and PCRM share money, staff and offices. PETA Exploits Sick People: “PETA famously suggested that drinking milk causes cancer, in an advertisement mocking then-NYC Mayor Rudy Guliani with the words "Got Prostate Cancer?" PETA has also erected a billboard reading: "Got Sick Kids? Drinking milk contributes to colic, ear infections, allergies, diabetes, obesity, and many other illnesses." In 2003, the group held a demonstration in front of a Toronto-area hospital that was under a SARS-related quarantine, spuriously alleging that animal husbandry has something to do with the epidemic's spread” (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). PETA Propagandizes Children: PETA's website for kids places crossbones and skull next to the symbol of Disney's animal area, and it tells the shocking story of a fast food restaurant worker who had taken a patty into the potty with her, after that, it said she had peed on it. It hands out dealing cards to kids alleging that drinking milk will make them pimply, fat, phlegm-ridden, and flatulent. PETA also has a kiddies-oriented magazine, and a child-themed website, called GRRR. The name is important, as it is planned to motivate children to recognize the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), which has long-used the term "bite back" in its promotional resources. PETA Distorts Religious Teachings: “Not only does PETA oppose the age-old Jewish tradition of kosher slaughter, but the group's leaders maintain that Jews have misinterpreted their own sacred texts on the subject. They also claim, ignoring mountains of scripture to the contrary, that Jesus was a vegetarian. PETA celebrated Easter in 2003 with a billboard depicting a pig, reading "He died for your sins." PETA also insists that Muhammad "was not a meat-eater"” (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). PETA Oppose Life-Saving Medical Investigation: PETA has frequently attacked collections like the Pediatric AIDS base for leading animal testing to discover cures for life-threatening and birth defect diseases. Additionally to opposing several and all medical studies that use animals, PETA also abuses medical experts, drawing them to disputes, with a direct face, that animal testing is counterproductive in finding cures for human diseases. PETA Diminishes Human Life: PETA's efforts to treasure all cockroaches and mosquitos invariably guide them to hate peoples for using RAID and bug spray. PETA Openly Supports Terrorist Activities and Violence: PETA has long-standing ties with radical units like the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF). The FBI describes these criminal groups as “serious terrorist threats”. These radical outfits are under FBI’s strict surveillance. Conclusion: PETA has finished groundbreaking improvements for animals that are misused by governments, corporations and individuals all through out the world and these achievements have guided to dramatic developments in the lives of millions of individual animals. The organization strongly believes in animals rights in par with human rights. Works Cited Critical Analysis of PETA Web Site. Write Work. 1995. Web. 02 April 2012. International Society for Applied Ethology (ISAE) – Guidelines for Ethical Treatment for Animals in Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare Research. N.d. Print. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Green Tracking Library. 1980. Web. 02 April 2012. < http://www.undueinfluence.com/peta.htm> People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Activistcash.com. 2012. Web. 02 April 2012. < http://activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/o/21-people-for-the-ethical-treatment-of-animals> The Issues. PETA: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. 2012. Web. 02 April 2012. Vigna, Diana Rose. Ad Analysis Final Draft. Advertisement Analysis. 2011. Web. 02 April 2012. Read More