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Asked by lianarockz to Lori-An, Duncan, Deuan, Darren on 15 Jun 2010 in Categories: About. This question was also asked by shanelle001.
Question: Do you think it is fair to test drugs on animals-even if it IS for human benifit
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Darren Nesbeth answered on 14 Jun 2010:
No it is not fair. One day scientific research will make technology so that animal testing is not necessary. Until that day we have to sadly accept this unfairness.
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Lori-An Etherington answered on 14 Jun 2010:
Many people have very strong feelings about your question and I think it is good that people think hard about it, with everyone entitled to their own opinion. For new medicines to be developed it is required by law that they are tested in animal models for efficacy and safety before they are given to humans. Any testing that needs to be done is under extremely strict ethical guidelines and the reason and method of doing the experiment is closely monitored. I think it is valuable that new drugs are developed to help treat human diseases and I accept that the only way of doing this right now is to use animals. Research is also underway to find alternatives to animal use which is also important.
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Deuan Jones answered on 14 Jun 2010:
So the word ‘fair’ is kinda difficult here – you could say it’s not fair cos animals don’t get a say in whether we use them or not, and they don’t get to test on us. But that’s not really the question to ask with animal experimentation because the reason we can use animals at all is because like most people I don’t believe we should treat animals like humans.
The issues in animal experimentation for me are the same as those in the meat industry – so long as an animal has been treated well and suffering is minimised then I have no problem in it being killed whether that’s to help us understand a disease better or whether it’s so I can have a beef burger for lunch.
I don’t agree with treating animals badly or prolonging suffering – especially when there’s no direct benefit for humans, but in laboratories in the UK, animal testing is actually incredibly well regulated. We’re not allowed to just go and do an animal experiment, we have to have a licence from the home office that allows the project to use animals (and that involves showing that the project really needs it and we can’t just do the experiment some other way), the person who does the actual work on animals needs to be properly trained so they don’t cause suffering by mistake for example, and even the place where the animals are kept are visited to check the animal’s live somewhere clean etc. The UK is very unusual having all this regulation – many countries do animal work with little or no checks at all.
It’s unfortunate, but we might never have alternatives to all types of animal experiments. So the question of whether it’s OK or not can’t be about whether it’s just temporary – in other words I don’t think you can say it’s OK to do something wrong just because in the future you won’t have to do it. Either something is morally OK now or it isn’t.
Many people like to think that animals are really ‘just like us’, but as a society we don’t follow that belief and our laws reflect that. If I ran a mouse over on my way home from work most people would never suggest that’s the same as if I killed another human in my car – even by accident. You can go into a shop and buy a mouse trap that will kill, but buying a gun is a lot more difficult – why? Because we value human life more.
Having said all this, I do believe people have a right to disagree with animal testing – if you were considering a career in science, and you didn’t agree with animal work, that shouldn’t put you off. I don’t think I knew clearly that I agreed with animal experimentation until I was about 22 or 23 years old and of course I might change my mind! This one issue doesn’t affect whether you’re a good scientist or not.
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Duncan Hull answered on 15 Jun 2010:
It is important to remember that many of the medical discoveries of the last fifty years have been (directly or indirectly) dependent on animal testing.
Without animal testing, we would not have many of the things which we depend on for better medical health. So as long as animal testing is properly regulated and controlled (which it usually is) I think it is justified.
Comments
Michelle commented on :
I think this is a great question. I have answered it but for some reason it has come up under a different section. Please let me know if you don’t find my answer and I’ll copy and paste in to the comment box here.