Editor:

Kaye Patchett's editorial/advertisement for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals ("PETA for humanity, not extremism,'" July 10) was more than a little dishonest about the truly extremist group and their beliefs.

Kaye, before you discount this letter, you should know I have been a vegetarian since 1975.

I accept that animals' lives are as important as humans, but PETA and I disagree strongly on this point. When PETA protested at the hospital where a man received a baboon liver transplant because his hepatitis would infect and destroy any human liver he r eceived, they showed their true position - animal lives are more important than humans'.

Conversations with PETA members locally bring the same conclusion. When asked if a person starving in the forest has a right to kill an animal and eat it (as I would do without guilt in that situation), they all said no.

According to PETA, humans are the only animals without the right to kill for self-preservation. You can't get any more extremist than that.

Luckily, PETA members aren't deep thinkers. If they were, they would realize that the farmland their food grows on takes habitat from defenseless animals who starve and die. Following PETA doctrine, members would all have to stop eating once they realized the situation.

PETA not extremists? If you aren't extremists, we have to retire the word.

Remember, people are animals too.

Carmi Turchick
campus-area resident