From "Cruel Science" See http://www.cruelscience.ca/research-ethics.htm
"Either animals are unlike us and hence the experiments provide no useful data or they are like us, in which case the experiments shouldn't be done.” - Peter Singer, Animal Liberation
“I hold that, the more helpless the creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man.” - Mohandas Ghandi
The ethical argument for using animals in research generally hinges on the belief that animals are not as valuable as human beings because they are not as intelligent as we are or they do not have the same capacity to reason as we do. However, this argument is fundamentally flawed because if one were to follow it to its logical conclusion, one could justify experimenting on mentally disabled people or even children. We do not grant rights to people based on their level of intelligence; we do so based on the knowledge that failure to recognize basic rights could cause them to suffer great harm as victims of exploitation.
As people spend more time exploring their relationship with animals––and the fact that our society does not grant them even the most basic of rights––they find that they cannot justify subjecting animals to harmful experimentation or other forms of exploitation. Just as we would not intentionally harm a person who lacks certain abilities or attributes, we should not tolerate the deliberate exploitation of animals who may also lack some of those same attributes. While other animals may not be able to communicate in the same way that humans can, we are the same in our capacity to experience pleasure and to suffer pain. As the well known philosopher, Jeremy Benthem, stated: “The question is not, can they reason? nor,can they talk? but, can they suffer?”
If, as a civilized society, we desire a truly ethical system of research, we must put an end to cruel science and retire animal experimentation the trash-bin of history.
