Animal Experimentation
Summary: Is it morally acceptable to experiment on non-human animals to develop products and medicines that benefit human beings?
For many centuries people have experimented on animals. There are two main reasons for doing this: first, to find out more about the animals themselves, and, secondly, to test substances and procedures to see if they are harmful (with a view to deciding whether or not they can be used on human beings). In the second category fall cosmetic products as well as medicines and surgical techniques. There is a growing consensus that it is not acceptable to test cosmetic products on animals. This debate is about whether we should experiment on animals for scientific and medical purposes. The debate about the pros and cons of animal experimentation (or 'vivisection') is one that elicits very strong emotions: animal rights activists have resorted to trespass, violence, death threats, and hunger strikes in their single-minded (and sometimes illegal) mission to end this practice. Pros Cons Experiments on animals should be considered on a case-by-case basis. The Animals have the right to be treated as proper principle to apply, however, is that beings of value in themselves, not as the the reduction of human suffering is our first means to human ends; this principle must priority and the prevention of animal be applies in order to guarantee the end of suffering or death is secondary to that cruelty to animals. The application of this (although still important). So that if there is principle means that animals should never a decent chance that an experiment will be experimented upon whatever the result in an important medical breakthrough potential gain for humanity. To infect that will reduce human suffering and death monkeys with the AIDS virus or to expose then it is justifiable to allow animal rodents to toxic chemicals and radiation is suffering. Animal experimentation is the simply not acceptable, whatever the (sometimes distasteful) means to much supposed benefits. greater ends. Although in principle it is more important to reduce human suffering that to prevent In practice, as everyone knows, animals are animal suffering, in practice it is possible not routinely treated well by animal (and absolutely right) to keep animal experimenters. Apart from the fact that suffering to an absolute minimum. Animal millions of animals die each year in experimenters should aspire to the highest experiments, others are often not levels of animal welfare in their adequately anaesthetised and are abused by laboratories, using anaesthetics wherever handlers and experimenters. It is idealistic possible and keeping animals in clean, to suppose that this will ever stop as long as comfortable, and healthy conditions. In society endorses vivisection. short, it is possible to experiment on 精品文库
animals without being cruel to animals. Past experience has shown what invaluable In fact few breakthroughs have been made advances can be made in medicine by as a result of animal experimentation - its experimenting on animals, and that live advocates have overstated its achievements. animals are the most reliable subjects for There has been a catalogue of errors and testing medicines and other products for failures in animal testing, which its toxicity. In many countries (e.g. the US and advocates gloss over; as many as half the the UK) all prescription drugs must be drugs that have been approved in the US tested on animals before they are allowed and the UK after animal testing have onto the market. To ban animal experiments subsequently had to be withdrawn because would be to paralyse modern medicine, to of harmful side-effects. Furthermore, there perpetuate human suffering, and to are alternatives to many tests that are endanger human health by allowing currently done on animals - e.g. growing products such as insecticides onto the tissue or cell cultures from human cells in market before testing them for toxicity. the laboratory. In fact, most animal experiments are done on animals that are nothing like human Human beings share about 99% of their beings - rats and mice - which undermines genes with chimpanzees and only slightly the argument that these experiments are a fewer with other monkeys. As a result, the reliable guide to human reactions. reactions of these creatures are a very good Scientifically, as well as morally, most guide to possible reactions of human animal experimentation is to be rejected - patients. Even lower down the scale, other the reaction of a mouse to a substance is no animals share the same basic physiology guide to human reactions. Each species has with humans. Furthermore, it would be its own unique physiology. And the more immoral to risk the life of a human being similar an animal is to a human being - e.g. when a medicine or procedure could a chimpanzee - the more intelligent and instead be tested on a non-human animal. sentient it is, and so the more immoral it is to treat is as a disposable and worthless biological object. There are indeed new issues raised by the The advent of genetic technologies has advent of genetic engineering and made possible all sorts of new and horrific 'transgenic' animals; these, like all animal acts of animal exploitation, from cloning experiments should be closely monitored so sheep to creating mutant and hybrid as to minimise animal suffering. The fact creatures with no dignity or quality of life that there are new issues here does not at all. We should end animal mean that there should never be any experimentation before things get even experiments on animals. worse. What is often overlooked in this debate is It is only acceptable to test human the subject of veterinary medicine. It is in medicines on human beings if they give the interests of animals themselves that their consent. Non-human animals are experiments be done on animals to test never able to give such consent. It is 欢迎下载 2
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medicines and surgical procedures for using therefore never acceptable to test medicines on animals themselves, not just on humans. on perfectly healthy animals, even if the Animal experimentation can be in the treatments are for use on other animals. interests of animals as well as of humans.
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