Pam's barbed wire tattoo celebrates range fencing for cattle ranches (which she opposes, of course), but one of her tattoos is also the source of her current infection with the liver disease Hepatitis C. Or so she says.
Pam insists she caught the infection from former husband Tommy Lee after sharing a tattoo needle, a claim Lee has vigorously denied.
But however she caught Hep C, what are her plans to cure herself of this potentially fatal condition?
Well, she should stick to her first choice and take drugs tested on animals. In July 2002, Pam announced that from December she would be starting on a course of interferon in combination with other antiviral drugs.(1)
But interferon has been extensively tested on animals since the 1950s. And so in November, she told a conference on liver disease that she was undergoing homeopathic treatment, partly because she wanted to avoid drugs tested on animals.(2)
In an interesting twist, Pam has given her support to the American and Canadian Liver Foundations, filming a joint public service announcement for them. The American Liver Foundation is on a PeTA list of charities to boycott because it funds research involving tests on animals.(3) Says PeTA, these "cruel" experiments "have no practical benefit to anyone. They are unnecessary, unreliable, and sometimes dangerously misleading."
In fact, PeTA has refused to condemn terrorists for attacking research facilities, while its vegan campaign coordinator, Bruce Friedrich, openly advocates blowing them up.(4)
Pam, the researchers in those laboratories care about people like you. PeTA does not, or it would stop working tirelessly to shut down the very research that could save your life.
We presume PeTA has also influenced your decision to dump tried and tested treatments in favor of homeopathic medicine. For your sake, we hope you know what you're doing!
NOTES:
(1) Pamela Anderson plans hepatitis treatment, Reuters, July 24, 2002.
(2) Anderson blames rock star lifestyle for hep C infection, National Post, Nov. 16, 2002.
(3) Charities That Test on Animals.
(4) Speaking to the Animal Rights 2001 national convention in McClean, Virginia, July 2001,l Friedrich said: ""If we really believe that these animals do have the same right to be free from pain and suffering at our hands, then of course we're going to be, as a movement, blowing stuff up and smashing windows. For the record, I don't do this stuff, but I do advocate it. ... I think it would be a great thing if, you know, all of the fast-food outlets, and these slaughterhouses, and these laboratories, and the banks that fund them exploded tomorrow. I think it's perfectly appropriate."