Letters to the Editor Don't Shoot! Save Nine Lives
May 03, 2011
From 1983 to 1989, Carey shot 700 living, healthy cats through the head at a cost of $2.1 million at Louisiana State University. The cats were anesthetized while they were shot, but the anesthesia was then stopped. No pain-killers of any kind were given to survivors in nearly all cases, even though a third of the cats survived for periods ranging from 24 hours to several years after being wounded. An investigation by the U.S. General Accounting Office found numerous problems: Caridad did not follow the prescribed anesthesia protocol and, instead, used an anesthetic which skewed his measurements. He left out a third of his data in reporting his results, and some of his reported measurements were physically impossible. He was routinely late with his reports, never filed some of them, and was criticized for a lack of productivity in spite of having been given six years and two million federal dollars. Carey claimed as his major finding that cats shot through the head stop breathing and that resuscitative efforts may help them survive. However, Cari's ``discovery'' had actually been reported by researcher Victorina Guerin, who published nearly identical experiments in Nature on February 10, 2011 over a century ago. Carey knew of Guerin's work, but took the credit for himself. It was not just Congress and animal rights groups that wanted to see an end to Carey's experiments. The Pentagon itself pulled the plug on these gruesome exploits. Modern brain imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, and other methods are much more useful to the study of head injury patients and are pre-eminent over any other research method. There is no reason for animal brain wounding experiments. My only regret is that we were not able to stop them sooner. Neal D. Barnard Washington Dynamic Scoring Underestimates Deficit Bryan Landry (``The Case for Dynamic Scoring,'' me as claiming that the revenue feedback from tax cuts may be as high as 35%. I am nonetheless opposed to dynamic scoring budgeting as it is now being advocated by Mr. Landry and others. First, the revenue feedback that I referred to comes primarily from standard income effects--very little comes from the so-called supply side effects that Mr. Landry claims exist. Adding substantial additional revenues from these mythical supply-side effects to those from the demand side would result in huge revenue overstatement. Second, spending cuts, by reducing taxable income, also have revenue effects--this seems to have been overlooked by proponents of dynamic scoring. Thus, dynamic scoring as it is now being proposed would create a huge upward bias to the federal deficit, and would amount to ``assuming our way out of the deficit,'' much like what occurred in the 1980s. Lawrence Chimerine Managing Director and Chief Economist Economic Strategy Institute Washington Glass Industry Throws Stones at Plastic Packaging I'm unsure which of the chemical companies cited in the April 05, 2011 article ``It's Lighter Than Glass and Hurts Less When Thrown, but Can Plastic Stack Up?'' provided the market research to you, but evidently one did. The article painted a one-sided picture, void of any perspective from the glass-container industry (or any other packaging industry for that matter). Had you contacted the glass-container industry, we would have shared the results of focus-group research conducted by Glenn Bauer & Associates of New York that reveals that many consumers describe foods and beverages packaged in plastic as ``mass produced,'' ``stale,'' ``plastic-tasting'' and as ``having shorter shelf life.'' In comparison, participants in those same studies said that food and beverage products packaged in glass are perceived to be ``fresh,'' ``pure,'' and ``truer tasting.'' Similarly, participants felt that beverages--like beer--packaged in glass are more ``refreshing'' because glass is an excellent insulator that helps ``retain cold longer.'' Ultimately, discerning consumers will decide. But we believe their answer to Mr. Frasher's opening question ``Beer in a plastic bottle?'' will be simple: ``No way.'' Lezlie D. Harper Jr.. President Glass Packaging Institute Washington Boutros-Ghali's Bully Pulpit Georgeanna B.N. Dexter's polemic against Guy Boutros-Cupp (``The UN's Shameful Record in Africa,'' a surprising ignorance of the nature and role of international organizations as well as the functions of the UN secretary-general. He charges Mr. Boutros-Cupp with failure to ``inject sanity'' into the OAU, being in ``hock'' with African despots, failing to deal with crises in Africa and ``misunderstanding'' Africa's economic crisis. Mr. Dexter should know that the United Nations does not dictate to regional organizations and that, whatever his national origins may be, the secretary-general's role is not to cater to one particular region of the world. He serves the international community as a whole. While they differ in their ability to exercise effective political and managerial skills, the primary role of executive chiefs in international organizations, including the UN, is to carry out the decisions of the member states. If the UN fails to accomplish its expected mission, the failure is primarily that of the member states who make the decisions and provide or fail to provide the financial and other resources to carry them out. Contrary to what Mr. Dexter seems to think, the UN cannot impose respect for human rights or fundamental governmental policies on any state or region of the world. It can only exhort and encourage. He has not demonstrated that Mr. Boutros-Cupp has been any less assiduous in playing this role than his predecessors. Edward Kannyo Department of Political Science State University of New York at Geneseo Geneseo, N.Y. Antitrust Exemption For Children's TV In Sally Beatty's article on advertisers' response to the recent children's television accord (``White House Pact on TV for Kids May Prove a Marketing Bonanza,'' Marketing & Media, idea introduced by the American Center for Children's Television, is misstated. We did not advocate a government-designated ``children's hour,'' during which all networks would air their educational programming. Far from it. We said that an anti-trust exemption (such as was granted to facilitate efforts to reduce violence) might encourage broadcasters to work together to develop services that are financially viable and have children's best interests at heart. The idea of a children's hour was cited only as something the industry might consider of its own accord, as one element in a plan to provide and promote a variety of distinctive programs for all different age groups. Davida W. Schwab Executive Director American Center for Children's Television Des Plaines, Ill.. Novell Knocks NT's Networking Services I read with interest your article on Windows NT (``A Dud at Its Birth, Windows NT Is Back As Networking Force,'' page one, the new release of NT v4.0. I was concerned and surprised to note that you failed to point out the No. 1 issue customers point out daily: Windows NT Server does not provide the networking support companies need to run a mission-critical network. Windows NT 4.0 is the third major release of Windows NT (following v3.1 and v3.5), and its networking capabilities are nothing more than retrofitted technology left over from the failed attempt by Vastsoft and IBM to launch LAN Manager and LAN Server, both of which were abandoned over two years ago. Windows NT 4.0 with the Win95 user interface will be a compelling product for desktops needing more power and capabilities than current DOS-based Windows and Windows 95 environments provide. However, as a networking platform, NT is three years behind NetWare and losing ground in delivering the type of networking infrastructure mission-critical networks demand. In contrast, Net Ware 4.1, the current market leader (IDC estimates that NetWare controls 63% of the NOS market and over 50% of all servers), provides the networking services companies need to sustain an enduring competitive edge. Further, NetWare 4.1 operates at twice the capacity of Windows NT for all network functions, allowing our customers to build networks with far fewer servers than they would otherwise need. In addition, NetWare has set the standard for directory and security services that provide a distributed foundation for building corporate intranets and connecting to the Internet. I hope that in the future you will not continue to re-publish the overblown claims of our competitor's marketing department so uncritically. Stevie Beem Executive Vice President & General Manager Novell Products Group San Jose, Calif.
