Patients, Doctors Ask Hollywood to Boycott PETA Gala As PETA Takes Aim Against American Red Cross and EIF

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire/ — Patients, doctors and scientists will hold a news conference Friday morning to urge celebrities to boycott PETA’s 25th anniversary gala in Hollywood Saturday night.

“PETA is targeting the American Red Cross, the Entertainment Industry Foundation and over 100 other charities simply because they give support to the quest for treatments and cures,” said John D. Young, VMD, MS, Director, Comparative Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Chairman of Americans for Medical Progress (AMP). “We are asking celebrities to walk away from PETA’s quarter-century of extremism and instead celebrate with us the human and animal lives that have been saved and strengthened over the past twenty- five years and more, thanks to the responsible and humane use of laboratory animals in biomedical research. We need the entertainment community’s support to ensure that this essential research continues so that people and animals can live healthier and longer lives.”

PETA lists the American Red Cross, the Entertainment Industry Foundation and three of the EIF’s National Initiatives — the National Cardiovascular Research Initiative, Women’s Cancer Research Fund, and the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance — in its campaign to stop contributions to charities that support animal-based biomedical research.

“From preventing thousands of cancer deaths and offering hope to those with spinal cord injuries, to improving and extending the lives of people with HIV/AIDS and helping mitigate the emerging public health crisis along the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, treatments developed through animal research are contributing to the health of America. For PETA to deny this, or to threaten ongoing research, is simply wrong,” said Peter Cashman, a 17+ year HIV/AIDS survivor and founding member of ACT-UP Los Angeles. “Alec Baldwin, who serves as Executive Vice President of the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund, had it right when he broke with PETA on this issue and told USA Today, ‘One cannot be single issue when it comes to medical research’.”

A list of recent medical achievements in which animal-based research served an integral role, as well as other background materials, may be found on AMP’s website, http://www.amprogress.org/.

Among the news conference participants:

Peter Cashman, founding member, ACT-UP Los Angeles, 17+ year HIV/AIDS survivor

Victor Gura, MD, scientist and attending physician, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Robert Phalen, PhD, Professor and Director, Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory, University of California Irvine College of Medicine

Jacquie Calnan, epilepsy patient and President of Americans for Medical Progress

John D. Young, VMD, MS, Director, Comparative Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Valentine, a 10-year-old mix-breed shelter-rescued dog, cancer survivor and much-loved pet of Dr. Young’s family.

For more on the essential role of animal research: California Biomedical Research Association – http://www.ca-biomed.org/ Americans for Medical Progress – http://www.amprogress.org/

Americans for Medical Progress (AMP)

CONTACT: Cindy Sardo, +1-310-994-6213 or Peter Cashman, +1-323-255-9512,both for Americans for Medical Progress (AMP)

Web site: http://www.amprogress.org/http://www.ca-biomed.org/