Animal Experimentation Issues
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The purpose of this research is to explore the issues involved in animal experimentation from the perspectives of theology and ethics. Christian and other religious viewpoints are considered, along with the specific body of ethics that has built up around biomedical research. Some fundamental questions are raised. What is humankind's relationship with the rest of the animal world? Do humans have moral responsibilities and obligations toward animals and, indeed, toward the natural environment of which humans are all a part? Should animals be used at all in biomedicine? Are there alternatives? Do animals have rights? Do they deserve to be treated humanely? What limits should be set in animal experimentation? What ethics should guide the use of animals in biomedical research? Although the discussion of issues overlaps, the research is grouped under five headings: (1) What does religion say? (2) Is animal experimentation ethical? (3) What is the ethics-theology connection? (4) What are the problems with animal experimentation? (5) What conclusions may be drawn?Animals of many kinds and descriptions are used in a variety of ways for scientific and medical purposes. Researchers use animals in efforts to defeat diseases such as cancer, AIDS, and cystic fibrosis and to test consumer products for toxicity. Some animals are taken from pounds before they are euthanized; others are bred specifically for laboratory use (Baird and Rosenbaum 161-164). The fo
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has compelling human numbers as well: In the United States alone, before the vaccine, 20,000 people a year were crippled or killed by polio viruses (Blum 46).
Animals themselves have benefited from animal research: Veterinarians are now able to improve the lives of pets and farm animals through cataract surgery, open-heart surgery, and cardiac pacemakers, and can immunize them against rabies, distemper, anthrax, tetanus, and feline leukemia (Bender and Leone 210).
Those who favor a no answer to the ethics question will argue that animal research is unnecessary, that much of it is brutal, and that most of it does not lead to significant improvements in the human condition. One catalog of recently documented abuses includes the following: (1) snapping the wings of 74 mallard ducks to see whether crippled birds can survive in the wild (they can't); (2) making infant monkeys deaf and turning them into amphetamine addicts to study their social behavior; (3) blowtorching pigs and, without the use of painkillers, observing how they respond to third-degree burns; (4) dipping monkeys in boiling water; and (5) shooting animals in the face with high-powered rifles (Bender and Leone 205).
Animal-rights proponents maintain that animals ha
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Approximate Word count = 3289
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page)
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