Peggy Ann Bliss to be keynote speaker on animal
ethics Sat., Feb. 28

Journalist, educator and animal advocate Peggy Ann Bliss will give one of two keynote speeches at the 20th “Boyd B. Palmer Lecture on Bioethics” Saturday sponsored by Inter-American University , San Germán Campus.

Her topic will be “Animal Liberation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come.” She will share the podium with Dr. Eduardo Santiago-Delpín, Director of the Kidney Transplant Unit at Auxilio Mutuo Hospital in Río Piedras and at the University of Puerto Rico Medical School. Santiago Delpín , professor of surgery at the University of Puerto Rico Medical School, will speak in Spanish on “The Ethical Imperative of the Humanities Professional and His Obligation to Act.” “Because of their education and awareness of what is happening in the world around them, professionals have a certain noblesse oblige to act, to write or to speak out on issues that are important to them,” he said. Bliss, the first woman to be invited to speak at this commemorative lecture, will discuss the ethics of treating animals and a new movement to extend animal rights. This is the first time the subject has been broached in the history of the lecture. “We have decided to invite two speakers this year in honor of the special anniversary,” said Dr. José Ramírez, organizer of the event since 1987. “Both subjects are fascinating and break new ground in our understanding of these topics.” “I have been reading Peggy Ann Bliss on the subject of animals for several decades,” said Ramírez, an alumnus of the biology department at IAU and a pediatrician specializing in allergies. “We think she has much to say and that her subject is definitely one whose time has come.” For interviews, Peggy Ann Bliss can be reached at 787-585-9130. For information about the lectures, call 787-264-1912 Ext. 7362.