Originally posted by mysticpeach
I also don't think we should test on prisoners either. Nothing will ever change if we use that type of punishment, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. These people may have committed terrible crimes, but they're still human beings and i think we still need to give compassion or nothing will change.
Nothing is ever going to change no matter what we do. There will always be violent criminals. They are NOT deserving of compassion or humane treatment.
Reasons for animal testing being a good idea:
1) It is possible to control the history of a given subject.
If a subject has been exposed to various factors, they will often compromise testing.
2) Animals make it possible to control heredity.
Genetic histories are well documented. Genetic differences between subjects can be greatly reduced. We cannot have breed human subjects to reduce genetic differences.
3) It is possible to research with animals that would be ethically restrained when working with humans.
Objections to animal testing:
1) Animals are different than humans.
Researchers know this, it isn't something they needed to have explained to them. Research done with animals is carefully controlled to ensure that the research is relatable to humans.
2) Animal research is unethical. "Animal Rights"
If animal testing is bad, is eating an animal bad? What about having an animal do farm work, hauling heavy loads, etc.? What about riding horses, especially when they have the horse jump a high obstacle? What about seeing eye dogs? Should people have animals do these things? What about animals kept in captivity as pets? If any of these are ethical, then why not research uses?
Research animals aren't treated as well as other animals man uses. This is a false statement. Research animals live in confined spaces, but they have a steady diet, veterinary care, clean living quarters kept at an optimal temperature. Research animals care is carefully regulated by laws, and monitored constantly for compliance. No other setting provides this level of care for animals.
There are some thoughts on the matter. It follows a section of a book I used in one of my early college courses which dealt with animal research, I will list the book at the end of this chapter for those interested in this section of that book. Someone that is against animal research often has not researched the subject unbiased, and as such has only looked at poor examples of animal care in a research setting. Poor examples are the outliers, not the norm. In my experience animals used in research are cared for better than any other animal. These animals represent a lot of money and a lot of work for a professor or graduate student, as such the person in charge of any given study checks on the animals frequently and verifies that the animal is healthy and normal.
Book mentioned: Learning & Behavior, Fifth Edition - Paul Chance
I didn't cite it fully, just didn't eel like it 😉 you can find it from what I posted.
Okay, how about trying to have an open mind? How do you know that medicines made by the big corporations, who btw are trying hard to keep their profit, is the only cure for all our diseases and "problems". There are also many shampoo products that are not tested on animals that i think work great, but hey if you want to have the perfect artificial smell and look for your hair, i guess thats your choice. Yes, there are other ways besides animal testing that animals are treated poorly, but does that mean we should stop other efforts in treating animals better. No, it doesnt. And yes, there are also ways to support farms that treat their animals better.. and why not even try eating less meat? IMO its all about balance, and trying to make councious choices of where you buy poultry.
Originally posted by Darth_Erebus
Nothing is ever going to change no matter what we do. There will always be violent criminals. They are NOT deserving of compassion or humane treatment.
I disagree. I think things will most definitely never change if we dont try to look into depth about issues.. rather then just punishing, why dont we try to help these people, who are obviously in serious need.. i know its a complicated issue and theres no easy solution. But i think how were solving problems at the current time isnt helping. And i definitely dont feel like any kind of animal "deserves" to be tested on.
Originally posted by Darth_Erebus
Nothing is ever going to change no matter what we do. There will always be violent criminals. They are NOT deserving of compassion or humane treatment.
I don't think that prisoners deserve compassion necessarily, but they at least deserve semi-humane treatment, regardless of how inhumane they were to others.
Animal testing in my mind is cruel and unusual. We have the technology to test on a certain type of human cells. Its basically the same is if they were testing it on us, but there cells. Not animals or humans. I can't remember the name of these human type cell but we have them. But b/c companies aren't welling to pay money, they won't use them. -_-
two relevent points here. one would do well to remember them BOTH.
1:animal testing is no more cruel than eating meat or using animal products including oils medicine, serums etc. you could also take this as far as bacteria are concerned or harmful animals. killing them is wrong just because they harm you. they were born that way and death is not a just punishment for biological necessities which are genetic.
2: even though its just as wrong to eat animal meat as it is to use them for testing{keeping in view this statement's apparent ironic and somewhat sarcastic portrayel of the original argument} it would be wise to remember that they ARE both infact WRONG and just because another more acceptable thing is just as wrong as animal testing, doesnt make animal testing any more RIGHT. as they say, two wrongs dont make a right.
the POINT i was trying to make was that the person who made the argument believing obviously that it was on moral grounds should look deeper and see if it wasnt merely her own bias towards seemingly CUTE creatures which made it impossible to her to face the aspects of them being tested on while she utilized other less likeable{but in all honesty not any less SIGNIFICANT} animals for food from what could be considered growth and harvesting {slaughter} of an entire race very compareable to {infact WORSE} things shown in the matrix.
similarly others who are opposing the argument should remember that they really have no reason at all to say its RIGHT to use animals for testing based on the first persons lack of personal reasoning. in the end theyr both WRONG and one should do as much on their part as they possibly can to reduce {seeing as we cant eliminate right now} the need for animal products, food or otherwise.