Is vivisection ethical?

greendawn

Do you believe that vivisection (animal experimentation) that usually involves causing disease or injury to animals for the sake of scientific research is an unethical practice that should be banned?

Elsewhere

So long as we eat animals, I don't see how we could object to animal experimentation.

I draw the line at the point where the animal is forced to bear excruciating or unnecessary pain or suffering.

the_classicist

Well, lions like to eat their meat fresh, I guess we should ban that and force them to anethesitize the prey first. Though, I'd hate to be the cop who enforces that!

On to the subject at hand, we're predators: our methods have just been more sophisticated.

kls

I hope this thread doesn't start a huge debate but yes , it is wrong to make innocent animals suffer

Being cruel to animals makes me very sad I do realize that some animal testing is necessary ( meds/vaccinations ) but un- needed ( in my opinion ) cosmetics and fragrance and the "what would happen if" science experiences really bother me.

Damselfly

chrissy

In 2002 I wrote a persuasive speech for a communications class regarding vivisection. Before going into it I was quite certain I felt strongly against it but decided I would need to do plenty of research before committing to the subject, as most people are either totally for it in the name of science, or against it in the name of humane treatment towards animals.

After reading Peter Singer's Animal liberation, I could not have felt more passionately against the act of vivisection. I concluded it is barbaric, inhumane, and the legality of it is simply incomprehensible. Many people that rally around scientific testing on animals do not realize what is going on behind closed laboratory doors.

My speech included various accounts of things like live kittens being flushed down the drain, animals undergoing extremely painful experiments without any the comfort of drugs, and various experiments that were totally inconclusive to science. In other words, there was no legitimate reason for the experiment to take place that could justify the painful exploitation and death upon the innocent subject matter.

I think this quote that I incorporated into the speech by Gandhi sums it up well...

"The greatness of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

Princess

I love that Paul Mitchell products clearly state that they have been tested on the stylists and not animals. For some reason, that has always cracked me up.

On the other hand, last week I took the kids to the zoo. The lioness had caught herself a seagull and was playing with it like it was a toy. I'm thinking the gull would have preferred vivisection...but maybe not.

Dustin

I don't think it is cool to torture animals needlessly. Sometimes for disease purposes they have to. But all in all it is a horrible practice.

Mecurious?

No

DannyBloem

I think nobody really likes it, but it has to be done.
Testing medicines and some experiments for science in general are really needed.

However I feel that the question must not be yes or no. We do eat animals also.
The question is more IMO, what can we do to make sure that the suffering of the animals is as less as possible. The only thing involved here is money, not science.
Many of the test can be performed with far less stress and pain for the animals, if better care shoud be taken.

Danny