A Comparison Of Advocates And Adversaries Of Animal Research

A Comparison of Advocates and Adversaries of Animal Research Tony Lee April 20, 2015 Dr. Baine Craft Abstract The belligerent perspectives of animal research hold strongly to different goals. Advocates hold the view that animal research is beneficial to science and medicine, which can be applied for humans and animals alike. This is opposite from the perspective of adversaries who value the life of an animal, as well as related lives. History shows the progression of the adversaries influence through policy reforms and societal shifts in thinking, while never truly solving the issue of ethics in animal research. The central theme of this paper is to elaborate on the two conflicting tensions by providing historical and†¦show more content†¦This dichotomy remains relevant as certain groups of animal rights activists continue to progress research towards more humane protocol (Galvin Herzog, 1992), while research advocates believe such practices are necessary and should involve less hindrances in order to fulfill research goals (Lyons, 2011). Precedent suggests that the majority of sur veyors support animal research due to its benefits in furthering medical applications (Dolan, 2002; Lund, Morkbak, Lassen, Sandoe, 2014), yet animal rights advocates have endured a historic conflict. Such advocates have perpetuated paradigmatic discussion for contemplating the weaknesses in animal research policies (e.g. the subjective scaling of research severity – mild, moderate, severe) (Lyons, 2011). When analyzing the perspectives of advocates and adversaries through history and studies, the ability to determine the ethicality of animal research is impossible. More legislation against animal research is not necessarily the answer, but one political solution has been to settle the dissension through a personalized assessment of individual cases (Rollins, 2006). If animal research continues, a case-by-case analysis of research studies is the only ethical manner to appease the tension between advocates and adversaries. History has shown the tension between advocates and adversaries of animal research to be belligerent. Attitudes