Denise Beckfield: Humane animal research can save human lives

I, too, am opposed to cruelty to animals during medical research. But I take issue with Thursday?s letter by a PETA member stating cats at UW “had their heads cut open and had steel rods screwed to their skulls.” Due to a recurrent brain tumor, I?ve had two craniotomies. So I, too, have had my head cut open and had steel rods screwed to my skull to hold it steady during surgery. That?s how brain surgery is done.