The Human Use Of Animals Orlans, F. Barbara; Beauchamp, Tom L.; Dresser, Rebecca ...
01/1998
eBook
This is the first book of case studies on animal ethics. It deals with important social controversies involving the human use of animals and analyses the moral issues involved. An excellent ...introduction to ethical theory provides a framework to the 16 original case studies, which include the use of animals in research, testing, and education, as food, as companion animals, and in religious rites.
Laboratory animals, being vulnerable subjects, need the protection provided by adequate ethical review. This review falls primarily to Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees. A review ...committee's first duty is to identify which procedures ethically are unacceptable irrespective of any knowledge that might be derived. Examples are provided. These projects should be disapproved. Then, "on balance" judgments are assessed that weigh the animal harms against the potential benefits to humans. Several countries (but not the United States) use a classification system for ranking the degree of animal pain and distress. This type of assessment is essential for careful ethical analysis. Another way to enhance ethical discussion is to strive for a more balanced perspective of different viewpoints among members of decision making committees. Inclusion of representatives of animal welfare organizations and a greater proportion on nonanimal researchers would likely achieve this objective.
In his challenging article, Steneck (1997) criticized the creation of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) system established by the 1985 amendments to the Animal Welfare Act. He ...saw the IACUC review and approval of biomedical and behavioral research with animals as an unnecessary "reassignment" of duties from existing animal care programs to IACUC committees. He argued that the committees are unable to do the work expected of them for basically three reasons: (a) the membership lacks the expertise in matters relevant to animal research and care, (b) there exists an inherent and disabling conflict of interest, and (c) the committee's operational base of authority is alien to academic culture and violates essential aspects of academic freedom. In addition, he found that the system is burdensome, requiring enormous expenditures of time and money that inappropriately diverts resources away from the business of scientific discovery. We dispute several aspects of Steneck's historical account and the coherence of his proposals. We believe his proposals, if followed, would be a step back into a failed past.
A major shortcoming of the Animal Welfare Act is its exclusion of the species most-used in experimentation -- rats, mice, and birds. Considerations of justice dictate that extension of the law to ...these three species is the morally right thing to do. A brief history of how these species came to be excluded from the laws protecting laboratory animals is also provided, as well as discussion of the implications and significance of expanding the law.
Few arguments in biomedical experimentation have stirred such heated debate in recent years as the issue of animal subjects. In this comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of the social, political, and ...ethical conflicts surrounding the use of animals in scientific experiments, F. Barbara Orlans assesses both ends of this sensitive argument's spectrum- unconditional approval or rejection of animal experimentation- as equally implausible. Instead of arguing to either of these points, Orlans thoughtfully explores the ground between the extremes, and convincingly makes the case for public policy reforms that serve to improve the welfare of laboratory animals without jeopardizing scientific endeavour. This book presents controversial issues in an objective manner based on careful historical analysis and original research. The author's findings address such issues as the functioning of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees, editorial policies on animal experimentation by scientific journal editors, policies on the use of animals in education, funding sources for alternatives, and comparisons of animal use policies of various countries.; Different mechanisms of oversight for animal experiments are compared and those that have worked well are identified. This compelling work will be of interest to biomedical scientists, ethicists, animal welfare advocates and other readers concerned with this critical issue.
Attitudes toward the Three Rs concept of refinement, reduction and replacement in the United States in research and education are widely divergent. Positive responses have come from several sources, ...notably from four centres established to disseminate information about alternatives. Funding sources to support work in the Three Rs have proliferated. The activities of institutional oversight committees have resulted in the nationwide implementation of important refinements. In the field of education, student projects involving pain or death for sentient animals have declined, and the right of students to object to participation in animal experiments on ethical grounds has been widely established. However, there is still a long way to go. Resistance to alternatives is deep-seated within several of the scientific disciplines most closely associated with animal research. The response of the National Institutes of Health to potentially important Congressional directives on the Three Rs has been unsatisfactory. The prestigious National Association of Biology Teachers, which at first endorsed the use of alternatives in education, later rescinded this policy, because of opposition to it. An impediment to progress is the extreme polarisation of viewpoints between the biomedical community and the animal protectionists.
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