Vivisection and Andrew Collins
Firstly, I'd like to state that Andrew Collins does not conduct vivisection in his spare time. I've just spent the last hour thinking carefully about my reply to this entry in his blog, so I thought I'd re-post it here.
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There is a programme about bird-flu on Radio 4 right now that is causing me to experience the same response you had to that newspaper article.
I will try to express as concisely as possible my views on both animal testing and the general use/abuse of animals in our society. I do not think people have the right the oppress or abuse another species simply because they are intellectually/physically weaker. For this reason, I am against vivisection.
Here is one of the best online resources regarding vivisection.
Additionally, when discovering four years ago that one can obtain all the necessary nutrients from an entirely animal-free diet without the unavoidable cruelty involved in an omnivorous/vegetarian diet, I went vegan.
It is not necessary in our society to consume any animal products, and the fact that humans are more advanced in many ways than other species gives us a responsibility to care for them, in the same way that we have a responsibility to care for children, older people, people with disabilities, etc.. I do not agree with the abuse of those more vulnerable than myself for material gain.
There is further information about the reasons for an animal-free diet here.
Of course, I hold these views for ethical reasons, not because animals are cute and fluffy [I was paraphrasing Peter Singer terribly there], but I also have experience of watching animals die due to illnesses which they were bred to contract. I've had a lot of rescued animals, and most of the rodents have died of various cancers. Many people are not aware that pet rats and mice are bred from lab animals, so they are bred to get various forms of cancer and other illnesses. A few weeks ago, one of my mice died of two huge, untreatable tumours, which the vet told me were caused by breast cancer. The rat I used to text you about on your 6 Music show was euthanised after developing a brain tumour, as were many of the others I had. They were bred to die in that way, and if they had contracted those diseases in a laboratory setting as intended, they would have been tortured throughout their human-inflicted illnesses until they were deemed no longer of use and killed.
So, that is why I am vegan and anti-vivisection. And, incidentally, it is possible to be pro-ethics without being anti-science, in the same way it is possible to eat tofu and not wear tie-dye hemp drawstring trousers.
Andrew, if you have time, I am genuinely interested in why you are morally opposed to vivisection, yet you have no apparent ethical qualms with consuming animal products. I promise you I'm not picking a fight; I'm just curious. I'm metaphorically offering you a cup of soya tea and asking about your motivation rather than jabbing you repeatedly in the eye with a parsnip and asking what the fuck you think you're doing. ;)
Well, that is the contents of my head almost expelled for today. I will now listen to your podcast, then dance to Bauhaus with Betamax Bandit, the fattest mouse in the world.
Much love, Sali xx
P.S. Here's an interesting paragraph from Viva! regarding free-range/organic produce:
...although free range and organic animals usually (although not always) lead better lives than factory farmed animals, they still suffer in many ways. For example, so-called free range egg farms may involve thousands of hens being kept in a shed with limited access to outside and to limited land. Even in the better free range/organic egg farms, all male chicks are killed within hours - useless by-products as they do not lay eggs and are too scrawny for meat. All animals kept for farming are prevented from mixing in normal social groups, and ducks never see their ducklings; hens their chicks; pigs have their piglets taken away much too young; dairy cows have their calves ripped from them at one day old. Even on free range farms the male calves are shot as they don’t give milk and are the wrong breed for beef. All farms prevent animals from living natural lives. And all are sent for slaughter as soon as there is more profit in killing them than in keeping them alive.
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_____
There is a programme about bird-flu on Radio 4 right now that is causing me to experience the same response you had to that newspaper article.
I will try to express as concisely as possible my views on both animal testing and the general use/abuse of animals in our society. I do not think people have the right the oppress or abuse another species simply because they are intellectually/physically weaker. For this reason, I am against vivisection.
Here is one of the best online resources regarding vivisection.
Additionally, when discovering four years ago that one can obtain all the necessary nutrients from an entirely animal-free diet without the unavoidable cruelty involved in an omnivorous/vegetarian diet, I went vegan.
It is not necessary in our society to consume any animal products, and the fact that humans are more advanced in many ways than other species gives us a responsibility to care for them, in the same way that we have a responsibility to care for children, older people, people with disabilities, etc.. I do not agree with the abuse of those more vulnerable than myself for material gain.
There is further information about the reasons for an animal-free diet here.
Of course, I hold these views for ethical reasons, not because animals are cute and fluffy [I was paraphrasing Peter Singer terribly there], but I also have experience of watching animals die due to illnesses which they were bred to contract. I've had a lot of rescued animals, and most of the rodents have died of various cancers. Many people are not aware that pet rats and mice are bred from lab animals, so they are bred to get various forms of cancer and other illnesses. A few weeks ago, one of my mice died of two huge, untreatable tumours, which the vet told me were caused by breast cancer. The rat I used to text you about on your 6 Music show was euthanised after developing a brain tumour, as were many of the others I had. They were bred to die in that way, and if they had contracted those diseases in a laboratory setting as intended, they would have been tortured throughout their human-inflicted illnesses until they were deemed no longer of use and killed.
So, that is why I am vegan and anti-vivisection. And, incidentally, it is possible to be pro-ethics without being anti-science, in the same way it is possible to eat tofu and not wear tie-dye hemp drawstring trousers.
Andrew, if you have time, I am genuinely interested in why you are morally opposed to vivisection, yet you have no apparent ethical qualms with consuming animal products. I promise you I'm not picking a fight; I'm just curious. I'm metaphorically offering you a cup of soya tea and asking about your motivation rather than jabbing you repeatedly in the eye with a parsnip and asking what the fuck you think you're doing. ;)
Well, that is the contents of my head almost expelled for today. I will now listen to your podcast, then dance to Bauhaus with Betamax Bandit, the fattest mouse in the world.
Much love, Sali xx
P.S. Here's an interesting paragraph from Viva! regarding free-range/organic produce:
...although free range and organic animals usually (although not always) lead better lives than factory farmed animals, they still suffer in many ways. For example, so-called free range egg farms may involve thousands of hens being kept in a shed with limited access to outside and to limited land. Even in the better free range/organic egg farms, all male chicks are killed within hours - useless by-products as they do not lay eggs and are too scrawny for meat. All animals kept for farming are prevented from mixing in normal social groups, and ducks never see their ducklings; hens their chicks; pigs have their piglets taken away much too young; dairy cows have their calves ripped from them at one day old. Even on free range farms the male calves are shot as they don’t give milk and are the wrong breed for beef. All farms prevent animals from living natural lives. And all are sent for slaughter as soon as there is more profit in killing them than in keeping them alive.
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