Animal Experimentation and Research Commons^™

The Harmful, Nontherapeutic Use Of Animals In Research Is Morally Wrong, Nathan Nobis

Experimentation Collection

It is argued that using animals in research is morally wrong when the research is nontherapeutic and harmful to the animals. This article discusses methods of moral reasoning and discusses how arguments on this and other bioethical issues might be defended and critiqued. A basic method of moral argument analysis is presented and used to show that common objections to the view that “animal research is morally wrong” fail: ie, common arguments for the view that “animal research is morally permissible” are demonstrably unsound or in need of defense. It is argued that the best explanations why harmful, nontherapeutic research …

The Validity Of Animal Experiments In Medical Research, Gill Langley

Experimentation Collection

Other animals, such as mice, rats, rabbits, dogs and monkeys, are widely used as surrogates for humans in fundamental medical research. This involves creating disorders in animals by chemical, surgical or genetic means, with the aim of mimicking selected aspects of human illnesses.

It is a truism that any model or surrogate is not identical to the target being modelled. So, in medical research, experiments using animals or cell cultures or even healthy volunteers instead of patients (being the target population with the target illness) will inevitably have limitations, although these will be greater or lesser depending on the model.

The Case For The Use Of Animals In Science, James A. Will

Experimentation Collection

Animals are now used extensively in research and teaching, and the appropriateness of their use appears to be questioned. Some people believe that we are in a new era where the animal activists have become much more influential, and that the antagonism between the scientists and these groups is worse than it ever has been. This does not appear to be the case. The preeminence of various influences seems rather cyclic, even perhaps influenced by such things as economic conditions or wars. At present, the question is often asked, "Should we continue to use animals in science?" The real question …

The Cruel Deception, Robert Sharpe

Experimentation Collection

With new legislation to replace the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876 near at hand, the powerful vested interest groups whose profits and livelihood depend on laboratory animals are stepping up their campaigns to ensure the survival of vivisection. Have the benefits really been so great, and can vivisection achieve major advances in our present state of health?

History shows (McKeown 1979) that the real reasons for the dramatic increase in life expectancy since the middle of the last century are improvements in nutrition, living and working conditions, hygiene and sanitation, with medical measures only having a relatively marginal effect. The …

The Case For The Use Of Animals In Medicine, Gary F. Merrill

Experimentation Collection

The use of animals in medical research and teaching, and the public concern this has generated is not a new issue (Visscher 1969). Ever since scientists began using animals to investigate the function of the body in health and disease, there have been those who opposed their work (Fishman and Richards 1982). Whether this controversy is cyclic is not known, but most concerned biomedical investigators agree that the opposition is here to stay. The author shares this opinion, and thus maintains that it is in the best interest of all parties to be properly educated on the issues. Only through …

Ethics, Welfare, And Laboratory Animal Management, David J. Allan, Judith K. Blackshaw

Experimentation Collection

Animals have been used in medical research from as far back as 129-199 A.D. when Galen, a Greek medical scientist, used a pig for his experiments. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, anatomical dissections were carried out on animals; Galvani used frogs in 1791 for his experiments and the Russian physiologist, Pavlov, carried out his famous dog experiments in the early 1900s. Since this time, large numbers of animals have been used in biomedical and other research. In 1963 the first edition of "The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" was published, and the United States Public …

Regulation Of Biomedical Research, Andrew N. Rowan

Experimentation Collection

The idea of abolishing or simplifying government regulations has a large following in Washington at the moment. As Reagan and his minions start to prune the growth of the past twenty years, we must hope that they are able to distinguish between the healthy growth which provides needed support and the unnecessary growth which strangles necessary initiatives. However, there is one area where we need more regulation rather than less, namely, biomedical research. In calling for more regulation in biomedical research, I do not mean the imposition of outside controls by allegedly ignorant and insensitive bureaucrats (although I think some …