No one relishes using animals for experimentation, but the medical community has long insisted that such research helps develop potentially life-saving drugs and treatments. Is this justification compelling enough to continue using animals for medical research?
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I'd rather see a rat die than a person
On "rathers"
Your personal preference may be as justifiable as animal testing. While we all have personal attachments and preferences, it does not lead us to a moral or even a logically consistent argument.
I would rather see a rat be tested with chemicals than my daughter undergo such experiments. But, then, I'd also rather see *your* daughter tested upon than my daughter. See? I can find both options horrible and morally reprehensible, but my personal feelings and attachments would still allow me to make a judgment.
So the question isn't whether or not you have a feeling about who should be spared or given preferential treatment. The question is whether there is a morally consistent justification for animal research. This argument, therefore, will follow the same existential path that the Should We Eat Meat discussion followed.
What should easily be agreed upon, however, is that the majority of clinical research involving the torture of animals is redundant and unnecessary. The reason we cannot arrive there, however, is because of the effort and interest invested in making sure this concept never comes to the public's attention. Remember: most animal testing is not based on ground-breaking, live-saving discoveries. However, we do know, more or less, just how much window cleaner a beagle puppy can swallow before it loses consciousness. We also have a fairly good idea what the impact of high levels of ingested shampoo will have on the unborn children of a mother rat.
- mike
January 30, 2009 3:44PM
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