PETA cofounders remarks at campus speech possess a 'level of illogic'

Your article about the cofounder of PETA's speech ("PETA cofounder decries animal testing on campus," Monday) contains a very disturbing statement. Ingrid Newkirk is quoted in your paper as having said, "Something like 90,000 animals are ground up per year at the UA. At that rate we should have eternal life by now."

Now, I am sure Newkirk is an intelligent person (at least I hope she is). So, therefore, this statement strikes me as a misquote because of the fantastic level of its illogic. If it is accurate I fear for Newark's sanity.

Newark's statement about student apprenticeships in surgeries is well said and has been the normal method in medical schools for decades already. I applaud the Animal Science Department's inclusion of a discussion of "animal rights" in its curriculum. We should consider all points of view and make up our minds individually. And we should be humane to our fellow creatures.

By Sam Marion (letter)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 24, 1997