Important work (From The Oxford Times)
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Important work
6:00am Thursday 4th December 2008 in
Sir – Although the principle of treating animals with respect and kindness is admirable, I think that animal rights activists objecting to the Oxford animal lab need to take a reality check.
As omnivores most of us eat slaughtered animals on a regular basis. Pests such as rats are poisoned and condemned to an unpleasant death without sentiment. Environments are destroyed and whole species are driven to extinction with comparatively little fuss. Yet when scientists conduct research on animals in a controlled environment in order to advance medical knowledge and alleviate human suffering, everyone gets in a state.
If animal rights activists want to stop cruelty, why don’t they direct their energies toward the many humans in our world who are unloved, starved and tortured. They can then let our noble scientists get on with their important work uninterrupted.
Daniel Emlyn-Jones, Oxford
Comments(1)
CatC
says...
12:45am Fri 5 Dec 08
These immeasurably complex species' differences make it impossible to scientifically/safel
y apply the results from other species to humans - so it can never be known BEFORE testing on humans whether any drug will be safe and 'work' humans.
Further the tiny, tiny genetic differences between individuals of the SAME species make ALL the difference to whether an individual has a disease and whether a drug will help, harm or even kill that individual.
We have been experimenting on other species for around 2000 years - yet still today people are dying of cancer, CF, stroke etc etc etc etc.
To its enormous shame Oxford University is ignoring current scientific knowledge that proves we need scientific, HUMAN-relevant research and individually tailored medicines, not the pseudoscience of experimenting on other species.
As regards animal rights activists, there are many official voices for humans but not one official voice for animals.
Human rights and animal rights are in fact one struggle - self-proclaimed superiority does NOT justify exploitating, oppressing, enslaving, torturing, killing those conveniently deemed 'inferior, the innocent and defenceless....human or animal.
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