Animal ethics - pets or research tools

Animal ethics is a difficult subject – how do we tally our affection for animals as pets with our carnivorous tendencies and use of animals in laboratories. While chef star Gina D’Acampo of ‘I’m a celebrity get me out of here’ could face up to three years in prison for eating a rat on TV, Leila Sattary weighs up the impact of animal testing on research

Antibiotics like penicillin, the whooping cough vaccine and organ transplant techniques are just some of the treatments available thanks to research on animals. In fact, of 71 of the Nobel Prizes for Medicine won in the last century were awarded to scientists who used animals in their research. Current animal labs are working to solve medical problems like Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury. There is no doubt that animal research has played a vital role in the huge medical advances of the last century but where should we stand on the ethics and morals?

In the summer of 2006, I had the privilege of working for a few months at Oxford University, where I returned three years later to live and work. I landed in Oxford at the peak of a full scale animal rights campaign. The tumult began when Oxford University announced the building of a new biomedical research centre in 2004 that would house all animal research at the university in one location.

Of course, nearly every research intensive university has an animal laboratory and the same is true of numerous private companies but the public nature and high profile of the building made it an ideal target. Every day I would walk through crowds of campaigners chanting “Oxford kills kittens” while on my way to my lab (laser lab not kitten lab!). The activists quickly realised I must work in the science area and began some mild verbal victimising which resulted in my swift purchase of an iPod and headphones. I doubt that the persistent chanting changed the views of many researchers involved but it did have an unexpected effect on the building contractors who quit mid-way through the build due to pressure. In 2006, the campaign took nasty turn as animal rights activists planted petrol bombs around the city and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to various college buildings. Oxford University recently obtained an injunction against SPEAK, the activist group rumoured to be behind much of the hate crime.

Meanwhile in Staffordshire, three animal rights extremists stole a body of an elderly woman from her grave to punish a farm which bred guinea pigs for medical research. Almost 100 people connected to the farm were targeted with explosive devices, threatening mail, attacks on homes, cars and businesses. The activists were jailed for 12 years. Now in the UK, much of the activism has subsided and the research continues.

Although the victimisation of individual people, and their families, is undoubtedly wrong I wonder what leads animal rights activists to such extreme measures and whether, underneath all the hate, they have a point?

It all comes down to philosophy and ethics - do animals have rights at all? Do the ends justify the means? As with morals, it is for each of us to decide ourselves about animal rights and research but there are regulations in place. Animals for research in the UK must be specially bred and registered by licences holders. The use of chimpanzees, orangutans and gorillas has been banned since 1986. Where alternatives to animal testing are available, scientists are mandated by law to use them. The number of animals and the pain they experience must be minimised.

In my opinion using animals for medical research, in moderation, is acceptable. It is not a job I would like to do personally but I am glad that labs in the UK are looking at all potential options to try and solve human medical conditions. Many monkeys used for research spend their lives solving puzzles for banana rewards, lots of mice spend their lives suffering from Alzheimer’s and animals of many species die in the name of science. However in the 20th century, an estimated 300 million people died from smallpox, which has now been eradicated thanks to animal research. As harsh as it might sound to animal lovers, a farm full of cows would have been a fair exchange for the lives of those millions.

Of course animals are also used to test the safety of products, like cosmetics where perhaps the ends do not justify the means, but that’s another rant.