"Double standards...make ethical debate difficult..."

Professor Paul Flecknell, in an article published in the Sunday Times Magazine, 10th January 2010.

 

Quote:

“Double standards — I should say multiple standards — make ethical debate difficult. Think about overweight pets. Dogs in pain with untreated arthritis. This would not be acceptable in a lab. Think about lameness in cattle and sheep, mastitis in dairy cows. It is accepted as part of the cost of meat and milk. We wouldn’t accept this in laboratory animals.”

"The fact is, a lot of procedures don’t cause more than the brief pain associated with injection. Many will suffer no ill effects at all. The only suffering is being confined in an animal house."

“Animal suffering is not something we can judge accurately. We cannot know their emotional state. We try to avoid anthropomorphism, but sometimes we can only imagine what it might be like to experience the procedure as a human. That’s the only criterion.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article6978955.ece?token=null&offset=0&page=1

Professor Paul Flecknell is director of the Comparative Biology Centre at Newcastle University and a former acting chairman of the National Centre for the 3Rs

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Tags

Research Fields: Psychology & behaviour(yes - 1 items)

Source: Prof Paul Flecknell (required)
Countries: United Kingdom(yes - 1 items)

Animals Used: Dog, Sheep, Other or unspecified mammals (non-rodent/non-primate), Cow(yes - 4 items)

Word/phrase: Positive (required)
Medical Applications: Veterinary, Medicine, Basic research(yes - 3 items)