To Benefit Humankind
It's a tough one philosophically. Humans do consider themselves superior in every conceivable mode of reckoning to any other animal that lives on the Globe. Imbued with a level of intelligence and capability that is not matched by any other living organism. All other organisms may therefore be manipulated and used as required, by man. And how better to use these living creatures than for the purpose of new discoveries that will benefit humankind?
It is prohibited by the nature of man and by our restrictions on what is morally permissible, to destroy a human life in the interests of achieving new scientific data, for any reason whatever. There are many that would include the destruction of a human foetus in that prohibition. But it is entirely feasible and worthwhile to use animal models in the pursuit of knowledge that will benefit mankind, through scientific-medical enquiry.
We have always believed this. And we practise this universally. Medical science uses animals for experimentation. We have previously told ourselves that only human beings can feel pain, not other animals. So whatever is done physically or otherwise to an animal has no consequences for that animal, other than to be useful as an object of experimentation. Although our human conscience has latterly led even scientists to acknowledge what we are really doing.
And the move is to distance ourselves increasingly from using animals for experiments, when other means can be found to arrive at new findings that are eagerly sought by researchers as acceptable and useful. Like computer models, for example. Although there are many who believe that they will represent a pale usefulness in comparison to using living, breathing organisms and the information derived from them.
Laboratory mice are often bred for specific characteristics, reflecting in the mouse kingdom, what has been a problem for human beings. Their sacrifice for science benefiting human knowledge has been a fairly casual one. We cringe when we know that dogs are used in this way. And then, we remind ourselves that without modelling insulin on diabetic dogs (made so purposely) Banting and Best would never have made their life-saving breakthrough in 1921.
Pigs and monkeys, even closer to humans genetically, have also been used for experimental purposes. As have rats, but nowhere near the numbers of mice. They share with humans 99% genetic similarities. And in Canada, despite a rising tide of using computer modelling, 1,132,706 laboratory mice were killed in experimental research in the last year alone, representing up to 50% of laboratory animals.
Mice have skeletons, immune systems, nervous and circulatory systems; they become cancerous, have heart problems and develop diabetes, and can be afflicted with cystic fibrosis and Alzheimer's. Multiple generations can be studied in a short time frame, since they breed 12 weeks after birth. A massive facility in New England; Bar Harbor, Maine, is the world's leading supplier of genetically defined laboratory mice.
Each Canadian university and research institution approves and governs the use of laboratory animals through an animal welfare committee comprised of veterinarians, university administrators, students and community members. The focus is on three main tenets; minimizing the numbers of animals for any given experiment, replacing animal testing with alternatives when possible, maintaining laboratory animals as free from pain as possible.
"It is with a certain level of discomfort that a human being inflicts suffering on another living thing, let alone ending its life", wrote two University of Washington medical students in 2001, expressing a universal "indebtedness" for laboratory animals. Virtually all pharmaceuticals have been perfected with the use of such animals. Their use has extended future health prospects for countless humans suffering from dread diseases.
Just as human beings are loathe to think over-much of what transpires in slaughterhouses, we prefer to neatly tuck away in some back corner, infrequently accessed, knowledge of the use of laboratory animals to further and advance the science of medicine to benefit humankind.
It is prohibited by the nature of man and by our restrictions on what is morally permissible, to destroy a human life in the interests of achieving new scientific data, for any reason whatever. There are many that would include the destruction of a human foetus in that prohibition. But it is entirely feasible and worthwhile to use animal models in the pursuit of knowledge that will benefit mankind, through scientific-medical enquiry.
We have always believed this. And we practise this universally. Medical science uses animals for experimentation. We have previously told ourselves that only human beings can feel pain, not other animals. So whatever is done physically or otherwise to an animal has no consequences for that animal, other than to be useful as an object of experimentation. Although our human conscience has latterly led even scientists to acknowledge what we are really doing.
And the move is to distance ourselves increasingly from using animals for experiments, when other means can be found to arrive at new findings that are eagerly sought by researchers as acceptable and useful. Like computer models, for example. Although there are many who believe that they will represent a pale usefulness in comparison to using living, breathing organisms and the information derived from them.
Laboratory mice are often bred for specific characteristics, reflecting in the mouse kingdom, what has been a problem for human beings. Their sacrifice for science benefiting human knowledge has been a fairly casual one. We cringe when we know that dogs are used in this way. And then, we remind ourselves that without modelling insulin on diabetic dogs (made so purposely) Banting and Best would never have made their life-saving breakthrough in 1921.
Pigs and monkeys, even closer to humans genetically, have also been used for experimental purposes. As have rats, but nowhere near the numbers of mice. They share with humans 99% genetic similarities. And in Canada, despite a rising tide of using computer modelling, 1,132,706 laboratory mice were killed in experimental research in the last year alone, representing up to 50% of laboratory animals.
Mice have skeletons, immune systems, nervous and circulatory systems; they become cancerous, have heart problems and develop diabetes, and can be afflicted with cystic fibrosis and Alzheimer's. Multiple generations can be studied in a short time frame, since they breed 12 weeks after birth. A massive facility in New England; Bar Harbor, Maine, is the world's leading supplier of genetically defined laboratory mice.
Each Canadian university and research institution approves and governs the use of laboratory animals through an animal welfare committee comprised of veterinarians, university administrators, students and community members. The focus is on three main tenets; minimizing the numbers of animals for any given experiment, replacing animal testing with alternatives when possible, maintaining laboratory animals as free from pain as possible.
"It is with a certain level of discomfort that a human being inflicts suffering on another living thing, let alone ending its life", wrote two University of Washington medical students in 2001, expressing a universal "indebtedness" for laboratory animals. Virtually all pharmaceuticals have been perfected with the use of such animals. Their use has extended future health prospects for countless humans suffering from dread diseases.
Just as human beings are loathe to think over-much of what transpires in slaughterhouses, we prefer to neatly tuck away in some back corner, infrequently accessed, knowledge of the use of laboratory animals to further and advance the science of medicine to benefit humankind.
posted by Pieface | 7:59 PM
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