Animals have the right to be treated as beings of value in themselves, not as the means to human ends; this principle must be applies in order to guarantee the end of cruelty to animals. The application of this principle means that animals should never be experimented upon whatever the potential gain for humanity. To infect monkeys with the AIDS virus or to expose rodents to toxic chemicals and radiation is simply not acceptable, whatever the supposed benefits.
In practice, as everyone knows, animals are not routinely treated well by animal experimenters. Apart from the fact that millions of animals die each year in experiments, others are often not adequately anaesthetised and are abused by handlers and experimenters. It is idealistic to suppose that this will ever stop as long as society endorses vivisection.
In fact few breakthroughs have been made as a result of animal experimentation - its advocates have overstated its achievements. There has been a catalogue of errors and failures in animal testing, which its advocates gloss over; as many as half the drugs that have been approved in the US and the UK after animal testing have subsequently had to be withdrawn because of harmful side-effects. Furthermore, there are alternatives to many tests that are currently done on animals - e.g. growing tissue or cell cultures from human cells in the laboratory.
In fact, most animal experiments are done on animals that are nothing like human beings - rats and mice - which undermines the argument that these experiments are a reliable guide to human reactions. Scientifically, as well as morally, most animal experimentation is to be rejected - the reaction of a mouse to a substance is no guide to human reactions. Each species has its own unique physiology. And the more similar an animal is to a human being - e.g. a chimpanzee - the more intelligent and sentient it is, and so the more immoral it is to treat is as a disposable and worthless biological object.
The advent of genetic technologies has made possible all sorts of new and horrific acts of animal exploitation, from cloning sheep to creating mutant and hybrid creatures with no dignity or quality of life at all. We should end animal experimentation before things get even worse.
It is only acceptable to test human medicines on human beings if they give their consent. Non-human animals are never able to give such consent. It is therefore never acceptable to test medicines on perfectly healthy animals, even if the treatments are for use on other animals.
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Animal rights activists often blow this way out of proportion. If you had the choice between letting your pet rat live or a friend or family member with diabetes live which would you choose.
Rats are a different subject they are over populated and ugly.
If we didnt have animals rights activists, animals would not be around much longer.
-Kristen
The rats are different comment made my day but really, how do we test medicine? The idea was put forth to grow human tissue in a lab. This is viable but then we get into other issues like the morality of killing babies (fetuses) to harvest stem cells to grow it. Are babies that much less valuable than rats?!?!?!?!?!?! I hope not! There is stem cell research using stem cells from adults where they are not killed and that is a viable option but from the massive debates going on there must be some reason why that is not adequate. When they can grow organs without killing babies I'd be all behind it. Until then, I'd rather monkeys or rats die than let babies die.
Adult stem cells and blastocoelic stem cells are quite different, and adult stem cells are much more difficult to manipulate than embryonic stem cells.
I love abortion. Read more here:
http://progressiveu.org/044921-i-love-abortion-even-if-it-murder
It's much better for humanity to keep those "babies" frozen forever. Until the power goes out, that is.
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Why not use death row inmates? I mean does putting makeup on a pig really help us? Not really. We are different than smaller animals, so I guess they should not use them, maybe use some creature that is closer to us? Or use child predators to test these? They maybe more accurate results
“Currently, nine out of ten experimental drugs fail in clinical studies because we cannot accurately predict how they will behave in people based on laboratory and animal studies,” Mike Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Millions of animals die in laboratories every year... yet we can not even cure the common cold. Want to know why? www.AskUsWhy.com
What I find a little funny about animal activists is how they choose their fight. Does any one else remember the whole tuna fiasco? Acitivists were in an uproar because dolphins were getting caught in the tuna nets and dieing. So they were telling every one to stop buying/eating tuna to save the dolphins.
What about the tuna?
I don't believein pointless animal testing, and yes, these smaller creatures, such as rats, are very different from human beings. But there are still some things that should begin on animals before being tested on humans. Makeup and shampoo? No, that's just pointless. But cancer treatments or potentially harmful radiation? Definitely. Besides, to begin all testing solely on humans would end up being a sue-fest, no matter what waivers were signed.
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
http://www.progressiveu.org/user/fanaile-drupal-org
thsi is terrable
It's quite obvious that you've been influenced by some sort of propaganda. I work in research. I work with animals. They are treated with care. We have guidelines, audits, training sessions, and extensive paperwork to submit for every animal patient. Each animal is treated with care and respect. I've seen grown men cry after performing a surgery while the animal is being anesthetized and under better care than most humans because he was so considerate of the rat.
Do you know what vivisection is? It's dissecting an animal while alive, and society does not endorse it. I don't know of anyone that does.
The reaction of a mouse, a fly, and even a yeast is a very good indicator of how a human system will react. We have enzymes that are EXACTLY the same as yeast. Different organisms are used for study of different systems because their biochemical pathways are nearly identical to ours, and some are exactly identical. Try searching beta tubulin in drosophila, zebrafish, c.elegans, and human. They're all very, very similar.
I think you have a misconception about what a mutant is. A mutant is any organism with ANY characteristic that is not wildtype (normal). A person that is born with Down syndrome is a mutant. A person with diabetes is a mutant. Scientists aren't creating animals with six legs, as many people think.
In your last paragraph, you stress that animals don't consent to research, so we shouldn't use them. Do you eat meat? Did you ask the animal whether or not he or she could be eaten? Have you ever worn leather, accepted a vaccine, or used bug spray? DId you ask the organisms involved if they consent?
Next time you decide to argue something, please do some research and see things for yourself instead of throwing in some heartfelt sentiments that you heard from who knows where.
I love abortion. Read more here:
http://progressiveu.org/044921-i-love-abortion-even-if-it-murder