Is there a place for animal experiments?
The relevance of ethics in the controversy about animal use is unquestionable
The conflicting arguments associated with the ethical aspect of the use of animals in research tend to centre on animal suffering and the benefits accruing from animal experimentation. The assessment of these two propositions as valid premises for relevant arguments is a salient feature in the ethical discussion on the use of animals in experiments.
The relevance of ethics in the controversy about animal use is unquestionable. It is significant that one of the prominent animal rights groups commandeers for itself the title “People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)” (my italics).
We may have hard choices to make but they are not impossible; there are moral grounds, acceptable to many, justifying what we do. This is true of a far from insignificant proportion of the public (perhaps the silent majority) even if what is done may involve the possible suffering of an animal. Just as the majority appear to tolerate, at least tacitly, the slaughter of animals for enhanced cuisine, I would suggest that a majority, not necessarily made up of the same individuals, do not regard hazards to animals in the pursuit of sport as morally acceptable. The tolerance as regards the injuries to animals in sport will be more varied according to personal preferences and the sport in question. The teleological approach of these ethical attitudes—that is, judging the rightness or wrongness of an action according to its purpose, why it is being done, is certainly widespread.
CHOICE BETWEEN TWO EVILS
The researcher in the field of biology is faced with the choice between using animals in experiments or not using every weapon in his/her armoury to diminish the overpowering reservoir of human and animal suffering. There is clear evidence from history that the use of animals in …
