Animal testing has proceeded worldwide for a long time. Nowadays, although the world has been changing so that some activities for animal experimentation cannot happen, still now most people think that animal testing for the medical field is important. It is false fundamentally because most human diseases are unique to us, and testing on other species is downright misleading. Animal experimentation is wrong and should be stopped.
Most people would say that if there is no way to find out a cure, they cannot help doing animal experimentations. Definitely, animal experimentation might have helped some disease which could not be cured, but animal experimentation is not as accurate and trusting as using computers or biochemical assays. There are some examples showing that animal testing is unethical and potentially harmful. Newstatesman, the UK current affairs magazine, argued why animal research is bad science; the following are instances. Despite having affirmed after seven years of animal research, the anti-rheumatic drug Opren killed 76 people in Britain and caused serious illness to 3,500 others. Likewise, after taking the diligent animal experimentation for the drug Eraldin, thousands of people with heart trouble suffered adversely. In the experiment, there was no one species that reacts to Eraldin in the same way as human do. These two medicines are only the tip of the ice burg, and examples can be found more often than one might think.
In addition to reliance on animal experimentation, people think that animals do not have rights or that animals do not have souls. In the speech given at the Edinburgh (Scotland) Book Festival, on August 19, 2002, Stuart Derbyshire said that “Animal never have any potential to do anything greater than their ancestors and direct contemporaries. Animals are not individual because while they may have distinct characteristics they lack the capacity to develop themselves and transform existence. In this sense, the value of animals is fixed such that it is always comparable to any other animal currently living, dead or projected into the future.” I personally think that it is human’s ego. Thinking or speaking is just few of human’s characteristics. Other animals also have special faculties. So, even though, human’s characteristics are great, human cannot dominate any animals. Today, what we most need in the world is a sincere love and sympathy. Therefore, people must agree that killing or injuring animals is not the best way for education. There are various ways to learn.
Scientists point out that drug therapies can have vastly different effects on different species. For instance, Strychnine kills people but not monkeys, and belladonna is deadly to humans yet harmless to rabbits. Then, what helps the development of the medical field except for animal testing? The answer is simple; there are lots of alternatives. Moreover these are more accurate and trusted than animal testing. For example, there are models and simulations, film and video, multimedia computer simulation, student self-experimentation, ethically-sourced animal cadavers, clinical practice, and in vitro labs. For medical and veterinary medical education, Digital Frog II, new interactive CD-ROM, includes living body module, anatomy module, and ecology module. This teaching material or any other model, simulator, video, and multimedia program can be used many times and these expense are efficient. According to Nick Jukes, a coordinator at InterNICHE which focuses on animal use and alternatives within biological science, new powerful software helps student and scientists understand structure and process efficiently; conventional animal experimentation seems to be poor. While these simulations can be limited to only anatomical studies, there are other sources to delve into for other processes. One such source is the clinical practice. The theory being the more experience the better the training if it is at the right level and the right time. ‘Problem-based learning’, related to real clinical cases, is recognized as a strong educational approach. Many veterinary colleges are already linked to veterinary clinics, providing an element of that field’s demands without experimentation on animals. This approach offers an education much closer in nature to the professional clinical practice that the student will either into after graduation. Not only the progress of technique but also the value of a life can be obtained through the clinical practice. Last example is in vitro labs. The use of animal tissue in some practicals can be replaced directly with plant material: for studying cell respiration or electron transport, mitochondria can be sourced either from yeast, potato or beet instead of the traditional rat liver, for example. Indeed, non-animal methods can be useful in the medical field.
Any kind of animals have various emotion as well as human do; therefore, the animal right is natural and respectable. Mahatma Gandhi said that “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way its animals are treated.” He was right. Animal rights have been getting important in the world. According to BBC news, on December 6, 2006, the Dutch raised animal rights to new levels, and then we can see Gandhi’s idea in action by observing the Dutch. Ms Thieme, a lawyer by training, was one of the founders of the Party for the Animals in November 2002. The party only narrowly missed winning a parliamentary seat in January 2003. Now it has made a breakthrough. Ms Thieme says “When I look at animals, they are innocent. We are treating them like they are things, like they are bicycles. That’s not what we have to be as human beings. We have common sense and moral awareness, so we have to use that as well.” Humans are also animals, so in spite of species differences, we have the same capacity for experience.
Some people may not possibly believe that animal research is bad, yet I do not need to get the information provided from cruel animal testing. Animals, including humans, are able to feel pain and fairness, enjoy their lives, eat their favorite foods, and be satisfied. Actually, non-animal methods are the best way to develop the medical field.
Websites
InterNICHE: www.interniche.org
AVA-net: http://www.ava-net.net/
NEWSTATESMAN: http://www.newstatesman.com/200408090013
Body Donation Programs: http://www.educationalmemorial.org/
PETA: http://www.peta.org/
Books
ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION
Animal Right
What Animals Want
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Intro to Seminar Paper of Touching the Void
The fourth paper that I have chosen for my e-portfolio is a seminar paper of Touching the Void. Touching the Void was the first book that I read in English 98. After reading it, I wrote the seminar paper. In the paper, I selected the quote that I was interested in and I analyzed three quotes. Although I could have analyzed more, I was able to understand well what the quotes said.
For example "Simon had said nothing about what he would do, and I had been nervous to prompt him. In an instant an uncrossable gap had come between us and we were no longer a team working together.
(analysis)
This passage describes the situation when Joe confessed Simon that Joe’s leg was broken. Simon said to Joe nothing, and it made Joe anxiety. Joe could not say anything because he knew he had to give up his life. By instinct, Joe realized that his life would be end, and expected that their partnership would not continue anymore."
For example "Simon had said nothing about what he would do, and I had been nervous to prompt him. In an instant an uncrossable gap had come between us and we were no longer a team working together.
(analysis)
This passage describes the situation when Joe confessed Simon that Joe’s leg was broken. Simon said to Joe nothing, and it made Joe anxiety. Joe could not say anything because he knew he had to give up his life. By instinct, Joe realized that his life would be end, and expected that their partnership would not continue anymore."
Seminar Paper of Touching the Void
2. The quotes that I was interested in
#1: The knife! The thought came out of nowhere. Of course, the knife. Be quick, come on, get it. (Simpson 102)
#2: A burning, searing agony reached up from my leg. It was bent beneath me. As the burning increased so the sense of living became fact. Heck! I couldn’t be dead and feel that! It kept burning, and I laughed – Alive! Well, fuck me! – and laughed again, a real happy laugh. I laughed through the burning, and kept laughing hard, feeling tears rolling down my face. I couldn’t see what was so damned funny, but I laughed anyway. Crying and laughing at high pitch as something uncurled within me, something tight and twisted in my guts that laughed itself apart and left me. (Simpson 109)
#3: The rope which had been tight on my harness went slack. Simon was coming! He must know something had happened, I thought, but what shall I tell him? If I told him that I had only hurt my leg and not broken it, would that make him help me? My mind raced at the prospect of telling him that I was hurt. I pressed my face into the cold snow again and tried to think calmly. I had to cool it. If he saw me panicky and hysterical he might give up at once. I fought to stem my fears. Be rational about it, I thought. I felt myself calm down, and my breathing became steady; even the pain seemed tolerable. (Simpson 74)
#4: The change in me was astonishing. I felt invigorated, full of energy and optimism. I could see possible dangers, very real risks that could destroy my hopes, but somehow I knew I could overcome them. It was as if I had been given this one blessed chance to get out and I was grasping it with every ounce of strength left in me. A powerful feeling of confidence and pride swept over me as I realized how right I had been to leave the bridge. I had made the right decision against the worst of my fears. I had done it, and I was sure that nothing now could be worse than those hours of torture on the bridge. (Simpson 133)
#5: A wave of nausea surged over me. I pressed my face into the snow, and the sharp cold seemed to calm me. Something terrible, something dark with dread occurred to me, and as I thought about it I felt the dark thought break into panic: ‘I’ve broken my leg, that’s it. I’m dead. Everyone said it . . . if there’s just two of you a broken ankle could turn into a death sentence . . . if it’s broken . . . if . . . It doesn’t hurt so much, maybe I’ve just ripped something.’ (Simpson 72)
3. Analyzed quotes
The knife was in my sack. It took an age to let go a hand and slip the strap off my shoulder, and then repeat it with the other hand. I braced the rope across my thigh and held on to the plate with my right hand as hard as I could. Fumbling at the catches on the rucksack, I could feel the snow slowly giving way beneath me. Panic threatened to swamp me. I felt in the sack, searching desperately for the knife. My hand closed round something smooth and I pulled it out. The red plastic handle slipped in my mitt off with my teeth. I had already made the decision. There was no other option lest to me. The metal blade stuck to my lips when I opened it with my teeth. (Simpson 102-103)
This passage describes the situation until he cut off the rope which was connected Joe and Simon. At that time, Simon was afraid to do what he was going to do; however, he had no choice but to cut off the rope. He could not think anything in the panic. Cutting off the rope was all he thought.
This scene was just fatal to their doom. They expresses about a feeling of Simon who is going to abandon Joe who is the partner Simon had climbed together for about a week.
I was really frightened of was losing a sign of life in the empty bowl of mountains surrounding me. (Simpson 147)
This passage describes Joe’s feeling when he realized a fear of lonesome death. The enormous mountain caused him incalculable solitude. Because in the mountain, he realized how his existence was small, therefore, he felt lonely more and more.
Simon had said nothing about what he would do, and I had been nervous to prompt him. In an instant an uncrossable gap had come between us and we were no longer a team working together. (Simpson 75)
This passage describes the situation when Joe confessed Simon that Joe’s leg was broken. Simon said to Joe nothing, and it made Joe anxiety. Joe could not say anything because he knew he had to give up his life.
By instinct, Joe realized that his life would be end, and expected that their partnership would not continue anymore.
#1: The knife! The thought came out of nowhere. Of course, the knife. Be quick, come on, get it. (Simpson 102)
#2: A burning, searing agony reached up from my leg. It was bent beneath me. As the burning increased so the sense of living became fact. Heck! I couldn’t be dead and feel that! It kept burning, and I laughed – Alive! Well, fuck me! – and laughed again, a real happy laugh. I laughed through the burning, and kept laughing hard, feeling tears rolling down my face. I couldn’t see what was so damned funny, but I laughed anyway. Crying and laughing at high pitch as something uncurled within me, something tight and twisted in my guts that laughed itself apart and left me. (Simpson 109)
#3: The rope which had been tight on my harness went slack. Simon was coming! He must know something had happened, I thought, but what shall I tell him? If I told him that I had only hurt my leg and not broken it, would that make him help me? My mind raced at the prospect of telling him that I was hurt. I pressed my face into the cold snow again and tried to think calmly. I had to cool it. If he saw me panicky and hysterical he might give up at once. I fought to stem my fears. Be rational about it, I thought. I felt myself calm down, and my breathing became steady; even the pain seemed tolerable. (Simpson 74)
#4: The change in me was astonishing. I felt invigorated, full of energy and optimism. I could see possible dangers, very real risks that could destroy my hopes, but somehow I knew I could overcome them. It was as if I had been given this one blessed chance to get out and I was grasping it with every ounce of strength left in me. A powerful feeling of confidence and pride swept over me as I realized how right I had been to leave the bridge. I had made the right decision against the worst of my fears. I had done it, and I was sure that nothing now could be worse than those hours of torture on the bridge. (Simpson 133)
#5: A wave of nausea surged over me. I pressed my face into the snow, and the sharp cold seemed to calm me. Something terrible, something dark with dread occurred to me, and as I thought about it I felt the dark thought break into panic: ‘I’ve broken my leg, that’s it. I’m dead. Everyone said it . . . if there’s just two of you a broken ankle could turn into a death sentence . . . if it’s broken . . . if . . . It doesn’t hurt so much, maybe I’ve just ripped something.’ (Simpson 72)
3. Analyzed quotes
The knife was in my sack. It took an age to let go a hand and slip the strap off my shoulder, and then repeat it with the other hand. I braced the rope across my thigh and held on to the plate with my right hand as hard as I could. Fumbling at the catches on the rucksack, I could feel the snow slowly giving way beneath me. Panic threatened to swamp me. I felt in the sack, searching desperately for the knife. My hand closed round something smooth and I pulled it out. The red plastic handle slipped in my mitt off with my teeth. I had already made the decision. There was no other option lest to me. The metal blade stuck to my lips when I opened it with my teeth. (Simpson 102-103)
This passage describes the situation until he cut off the rope which was connected Joe and Simon. At that time, Simon was afraid to do what he was going to do; however, he had no choice but to cut off the rope. He could not think anything in the panic. Cutting off the rope was all he thought.
This scene was just fatal to their doom. They expresses about a feeling of Simon who is going to abandon Joe who is the partner Simon had climbed together for about a week.
I was really frightened of was losing a sign of life in the empty bowl of mountains surrounding me. (Simpson 147)
This passage describes Joe’s feeling when he realized a fear of lonesome death. The enormous mountain caused him incalculable solitude. Because in the mountain, he realized how his existence was small, therefore, he felt lonely more and more.
Simon had said nothing about what he would do, and I had been nervous to prompt him. In an instant an uncrossable gap had come between us and we were no longer a team working together. (Simpson 75)
This passage describes the situation when Joe confessed Simon that Joe’s leg was broken. Simon said to Joe nothing, and it made Joe anxiety. Joe could not say anything because he knew he had to give up his life.
By instinct, Joe realized that his life would be end, and expected that their partnership would not continue anymore.
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