Dear Editor:

 
Janelle Lau asked "Is animal testing worth it?" in your paper on Aug. 24. It's a good question, and one that can easily be answered by your doctor, your pharmacist, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the people you know who may have diabetes, heart disease, cancer or some other horrible disease.

The fact is that no cure will ever come in the near future without first testing those cures on animals (and people, too, in clinical trials) before those drugs can be given to humans that need them. It's not an excuse to abuse animals, but the truth is that I'll bet test animals are treated better than a lot of household pets.

Just look at the tens of thousands of discarded pets that are turned in each year here in Maricopa County. In any case, I don't think many people who have life-threatening illnesses want to stop animal testing, whether it's in Chandler or anywhere else.