PeTA celebrated a victory the past week when they obtained photographs of cats that are part of medical research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The work involves a small number of cats in studies that provide better understanding of hearing and that are relevant to improving treatment for human deafness. An explanation of the purpose … Continue reading Defending science and countering falsehood at the University of Wisconsin Madison
Tag: peta
Lori Gruen on the Ethical Justification of Animal Research Experiments
Prof. Lori Gruen gave an interesting talk this week at the University of Wisconsin at Madison on Animal Research and the Limits of Medicine. You can watch her presentation and discussion here. She appealed to those engaged in animal research to offer a more detailed explanation of how the cost and benefits of individual experiments … Continue reading Lori Gruen on the Ethical Justification of Animal Research Experiments
Safeguarding medical progress means supporting animal transport
The following guest post is from Eric Raemdonck, who has a background in the aviation transport industry. Eric recently launched the Advancing Animal Research blog, whose purpose is to " establish bridges between the aviation world, the life sciences, health care, pharmaceutical, animal research industries, educational institutions and their affiliate or representative associations as well as Governmental organisations". Facing a … Continue reading Safeguarding medical progress means supporting animal transport
The Golden Goose Awards
Politicians sometimes deride research based on the what they perceive as being "silly" titles of federal funded grants. If they spot a title that deals with "games", for example, they may assume it deals with some sort of amusement of little value to society, instead of a deep, powerful branch of mathematics that describes the behavior of … Continue reading The Golden Goose Awards
PeTA, Celebrities and Violence
In an incident widely reported this week, the public learned that Kim Kardashian was attacked by an anti-fur activist with a bag of flour. Normally we would not pay attention to such goings on, the sartorial debacles of minor celebrities are amusing but of little importance, and we are well aware of the ethical distinctions … Continue reading PeTA, Celebrities and Violence
Big Questions, but few answers from opponents of animal research
A recent edition of the BBC1 Program called “The Big Questions” offered a brief debate on animal research. Among those discussing the issues was SR's founder, Tom Holder. Within this post we will discuss some of the many issues which were touched upon, but barely explored in this brief debate. Some of the questions centered … Continue reading Big Questions, but few answers from opponents of animal research
A welcome end to random-source dog and cat dealers
The National Institutes of Health has announced that starting October 1, 2012, NIH funds may no longer be used to buy cats from Class B dealers. A similar prohibition in the purchase of dogs from Class B dealers takes effect in 2015. Although dogs and cats constitute only small percentage of research animals, they have … Continue reading A welcome end to random-source dog and cat dealers
Gorgons Visit Earth
There is a classical argument against animal research that surfaced in a recent conversation with Robert C. Jones. It is a thought experiment that can be traced back to science fiction work in the 50s, although its exact origin is unknown. The story involves the landing of an aliens on Earth. Robert calls them "The Gorgons." The … Continue reading Gorgons Visit Earth
Speaking of Research 