Monday, January 21, 2013

Rabbits and Animal Testing

Its no secret that rabbits have long been a popular test subject. According to the American Anti-Vivisection Society, rabbits used in medical research  more frequently than any other species, currently about 200,000 per year. Many sources cite that the reason for this is that rabbit are easy to breed and easy to handle (I should say non of these "researchers" ever tried to trim a rabbits nails). You may have also noticed that your rabbit hardly ever blinks; this made them convenient for the Draize eye irritant tests. Rabbits have also been the subject of pregnancy testing.

So why am I bringing all of this unpleasantness up? I just saw a PETA campaign against the testing of tobacco products on animals, including rabbits. Among all the arguments I could raise against animal testing, what bothers me most about this is that the dangers of smoking has been known for decades. I can't imagine the usefulness of this research.

I took a class in communications research last semester, and while this differs in many ways from scientific or medical research, one of the first questions you have to ask yourself when starting a project is "is this useful/important?" In this case I say certainly not. I wonder how this was approved/ funded. We already know how bad smoking is; we know that quitting is the only way to avoid the repercussions of smoking.

You can learn more about PETAs campaign against testing of tobacco products here, or contact your government representatives and request legislation against animal testing.

5 comments:

  1. why do they think its ok to do this to an animal when they don't do it on human?!

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    1. IDK, I have to wonder what these people are thinking when they do these things, I couldn't bring myself to harm an animal.

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  2. I straddle an awkward fence on this subject because I'm a scientist (microbiologist, masters in experimental pathology)... Do I hate animal testing? Absolutely. Do I understand that it is sometimes necessary? Sadly, yes.
    You hit the nail on the head when you said that we should always ask ourselves if something is truly necessary/important. I was actually in a PhD program and one of the reasons that made me lose motivation (and eventually quit) was the excessive killing of mice I had to do... all for (what I felt was) an insatiable curiosity (that of my boss). Not an absolute need. This isn't true of all laboratories though...
    I don't believe in animal testing for cosmetic purposes. The study you cite is definitely superfluous, but my guess is that they are arguing that no real controlled study on smoking has ever been carried out (or can be carried out) in humans for ethical reasons. I do believe that similar studies have been done in rats, so definitely, no need to do any more harm to defenseless animals.
    Unfortunately, there are many areas of science that can't advance without animal testing. At least not with the resources we currently have. There are some labs out there that are working to implement simulation technologies that could eventually face out animal testing and I sincerely pray for their success. I also think that regulating bodies like IACUC (The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee) should be stricter and implement rules that ensure an animal's comfort. It's very easy to break the rules because these committees only visit once or twice a year... And the animals are kept in tiny cages with no interaction, even if they are to be sacrificed. Definitely not sufficient.

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    1. I appreciate your viewpoint, Lalis, and I commend you for standing up for your belief. I know that some things have come from animal testing that have benefitted humans, any many may see the sacrifice as insignificant, and maybe they are right- what difference do a few mice make? but the real loss I feel is our since of compassion for other living things. For me it is a matter of principle. there are other parts of our society which abuse the life of other creatures, in fact, as a whole, I would say the human race puts itself about all other things, which wouldn't be so bad if we considered the consequences of some of our actions. Its sad to say that most people don't even care about the well being of most other people. Keep in mind this is alot of generalizing and I acknowlege that.

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    2. I completely agree with you... I've been there and it's saddening how non-emotional people become towards animals. I did work with this one girl (while rotating through laboratories) who felt extremely sorry for the mice, and the way she put it was, she would rather be the one working with them because she cared and was grateful for their sacrifice, than someone else. She was the exception though...
      This may sound super cheesy, but I really like that one scene in Avatar where the alien girl says sort of prayer after she kills her hunt, thanking him for his meat... Why can't we more in tune with the other living things around us?

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