Over the line?

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In general I am entirely in favour of testing things on lesser animals: the overall medical benefits can vastly outweigh the suffering of the test subjects, they’re cheaper and more consistent to manage than canidae, and after all, God must have created rodents for something. Injecting spider venom into mice to measure pain [SciAm], however, seems

Comments

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No, I haven't, and I probably should. But there is no absolute conclusion in this argument. Research on animals is certainly often horrific, but in some cases it equally undoubtedly gains knowledge which can end equally horrible kinds of suffering forever. And, just as certainly, some animal experimentation is pointless and a moral crime (just look at some dark corners of the cosmetics industry).

Some research cases are clearly justified. Some are clearly not. Each one has to be considered separately.

I owe my life to modern medicine, and probably indirectly to a lot of lab mice. I do not regret their deaths.