People who don’t like animal experiments are “the forces of unreason” so says Hannah Devlin of the Times newspaper. She is the science editor. In typical Times journalist style she writes about 3,000 words in her article. You can say what she says in 300 and they are the old clichés. The only argument for animal experiments is that they improve the health of humans while disimproving the health of animals. Kill millions of animals in experiments and save some human lives, maybe. Is that right?
“…animal experimentation is vital…”
Aside from the immorality if animal testing, the ironic aspect about animal experiments saving people’s lives is that the research leads to ever more expensive drugs and treatments, which people cannot afford! Medicine is becoming too expensive. Indirectly, animal tests place a financial burden on people and also lead to longer lives. But, we already live too long as it is. Countries cannot afford to pay pensions to an ever more elderly population. It is a sort of madness. Hannah Devlin does not refer to these more difficult issues.
Here are some figures:
- 2012 UK – 4.11 million animal experiments. An increase of 317,200 over the previous year. The highest level since the 1980s. We are going backwards.
- Genetically modified (GM) mice accounted for a rapid increase in experiments. The number of GM animals used increased by 22 per cent. Comment: what other animals have been genetically modified in the name of our health?
- 1.91 million GM animals used in research 2012
- 1.68 million non-GM animals used in research 2012
The British government pledged to decrease the number of animal experiments. Another failure.
PETA have created a video game, which Ms Devlin mocks. Many people don’t like Peta but on this subject they say:
“PETA believes that animals are not ours to use for experiments…..the game gives players the opportunity to fight back against cruel animal testing at universities, pharmaceutical companies, and even U.S. military bases…”
All decent minded people must agree with that. The game appears to be made for handheld devices. The pictures heading this page are screenshots.
Conclusion: Economic woes result in a decline in ethical behavior towards the planet and the species living on it.
Associated: Animal testing for cosmetics (article by Elisa)
