Day 034 - 11 Oct 94 - Page 69
1 animal rights organisation in the United States, in
2 Britain and in other countries.
3
4 Q. It is pretty big, is it not?
5 A. It is -- well, its membership is some hundreds of
6 thousands.
7
8 Q. Some hundreds of thousands. Your organisation, by which
9 I mean the Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine,
10 has a membership, what, of some 3,000 registered
11 physicians or licensed physicians; is that right?
12 A. Our physician membership is just over 3,000, yes.
13
14 Q. Which I expect you would agree is a very tiny percentage
15 of the number of physicians in the United States?
16 A. There are about 600,000 physicians in the United
17 States. We certainly have not attempted to represent them
18 all.
19
20 Q. I understand that, but you have, I think, you told us some
21 55,000 associate members?
22 A. Somewhere along those lines.
23
24 Q. Can you tell me, if you can, what sorts of people or
25 organisations the associate members are?
26 A. They are lay people.
27
28 Q. Lay people?
29 A. From any walk of life, although they may also be any
30 sort of person in the health industry who is not defined
31 as a physician, for our purposes that is an MD or a DO.
32 Everyone else is an associate member, so a psychologist,
33 biologist, a nurse, a research scientist, would be an
34 associate member or a member of the lay public.
35
36 Q. Do you or your organisation have any connection with the
37 animal rights organisation which I shall call PETA for
38 short?
39 A. It is pronounced "Peter".
40
41 Q. Sorry, "PETA".
42 A. I have been an advisor to them on an informal basis
43 for a number of years.
44
45 Q. Why?
46 A. Why?
47
48 Q. Yes.
49 A. What I am asked to do is to provide information and
50 I sometimes write a column in a magazine, particularly on
51 health issues but sometimes on the subject of animal
52 research as well.
53
54 Q. You would not agree, I am sure you would not particularly,
55 Dr. Barnard, to be an advisor to an organisation whose
56 objects and activities you disapproved of, would you?
57 A. In general terms, no.
58
59 Q. You do not disapprove of the objects and activities of
60 PETA, do you?
