Question: Why do you think it is so important that animals shouldn\'t be used in experiments?

Michelle Hudson-Shore answered on 21 Jun 2010:

It’s a hard question to answer as I’ve had to weigh up many different moral/ethical and scientific arguments, such as:

ETHICAL
There are many strongly held beliefs about animal experiments but I think there are 3 main standpoints
1. Animals have an intrinsic value: humans have no right to inflict pain or harm on them no matter what steps are taken to alleviate that harm and regardless of the potential benefits
2. Animals are here to serve humans: all animal use for the benefit of humans is legitimate whatever the cost to animals
(These two viewpoints are extreme opposites and it isn’t possible to reach a compromise between them)
3. Continuum of Rights: humans have greater intrinsic value than other animals so the use of animals for the benefit of man, the environment and other animals can be justified providing the benefits outweigh the costs to the animals, So it is morally wrong to cause other animals unnecessary or avoidable suffering.
This view seems to reflect the majority view amongst the general public and forms the basis of both UK and European legislation on animals experiments.

At the moment in the UK before an animal experiment is allowed to go ahead a cost/benefit analysis has to be done. This is based on the continum of rights idea and an ethical principle of ‘the greatest happiness of the greatest number’ (known as Utilitarianism). So basically if the benefits to many people (e.g. treatment for a disease) outweigh the costs (possible suffering) of the fewer animals then the experiments is thought to be justified.

I find this hard to agree with because you are trying to balance the costs to an animal that will never receive any of the benefits. Making the analysis unfair. But at the same time I struggle because if tests on an animal could definitely find a cure for a disease such as cancer then maybe the lives of a few animals that had been treated as well as possible is worth it?

SCIENTIFIC
Animals are used as models for humans so that scientists can do experiments to understand how a disease damages the body and to test if new drugs work and are safe before they are tested in humans. This is because it is not always possible to look at these things in people as you might make their illness worse or could injure or even kill them if the drug turned out to be harmful.
However, the animals are not exactly the same as humans. The animals may not suffer from all the symptoms of a disease or they might react to drugs in different ways because they have different immune systems or reactions to the illness. Therefore, scientists have to use the closest animal model they can which is not always ideal.

I again find this difficult because I feel that many of the animals used are not similar enough and in some ways using them actually slows down the chances of finding treatments. I believe that more resources should be put in to developing and using other methods that are more relevant to humans such as cell based models, technology that allows human volunteers to be safely involved in testing new drugs, computer based and molecular models.

I realise that at the moment there are many alternatives that are used to check possible new drugs and then only the most promising ones go in to animal models. However, I do strongly believe that if there was more funding available that scientists from different fields of science could work together to develop new alternatives and improve those that already exist. That way, more relevant and valid non-animal methods can become the final stage of testing rather than just the beginning. We would not then have to be concerned about the ethics of using animals as it would not be an issue.

I do find it very hard to make a decision about all animal experiments as each one has very different strengths and weaknesses so I think that the best approach is to start with the models that are the least like the human diseases or that have not produced any promising drugs and find alternatives for them. It is a very gradual process but with cooperation it could lead to treatments quicker and without the dilemma of involving animals.
Sorry for the long answer but as you can see it is a hard thing to decide.