Research

Alibi for Exploitation

The search for knowledge is important. But using the knowledge you already have is even more important. We know that animals’ capacity to feel pain and fear is in no way inferior to our own. We know that the basic feelings we experience are also experienced by other animals. Nevertheless, science chooses to disregard this knowledge and use animals in research as if they were nothing other than lifeless instruments. Do we want our knowledge to be built on the exploitation of living creatures – is research an alibi for cruelty?

There is a wide range of research methods available – complex cell cultures, computer models for toxicity testing, mechanical “patients” for the development of surgical techniques. Animal research is one method amongst many, but it receives favourable treament both economically and legally despite the fact that it harms both animals and humans. There are many examples of animal research giving misleading results and thereby contributing to dangerous drugs reaching the marketplace. Also, we have no way of knowing how many beneficial medicines human beings have missed out on due to animal testing being the dominant method of research.

Animal research continues principally because it takes a lot of courage for researchers to criticise methods that their superiors have been employing for decades. Also, research is a fight for funding and prestige, and those who oppose the powerful forces in the research community are unlikely to get much of either.

Animal research as a method is holding back both humanity’s ethical and its medical development.