The Controversial Issue of Animal Ethics
The struggle against sickness and disease is not over, yet medical progress is being
threatened by activists who would end the use of laboratory animals in the search for treatment and cures. Their well financed anti-research disinformation campaign is not the only weapon used by animal rights activists.
The more extreme animal rights activists have used tactics of intimidation and terrorism,
for example:
April 26,1997, activists were arrested when they tried to force their way into Yerkes
Regional Primate center during a protest.
July 21,1997, The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) set fire to Cavel West, a horse rendering
plan.
July 5,1998, The ALF broke into a laboratory at Cornell University and released dozens of
woodchucks into the wild. (Americans for Medical Progress 2) These are only a few examples of intimidation and terrorism that activists use to get their point
across. The animals used in those labs were all for ideal laboratory animal research.
They were not being used for cosmetic studies. They were strictly being used for medical purposes. Some things that they were in research for were to study liver cancer, hepatitis, and to get tissues to treat skull born birth defects in children.
In order to decide whether these actions taken by activists are right or appropriate we
need to answer this question: Are the benefits of animal experimentation worth the pain that the laboratory animal experiences? Once this question is answered, the question of whether animal experimentation is ethical or not will also be answered.
The use of animals in the life sciences goes back to ancient Greece and the earliest
medical experiments. To learn about swallowing, ancient physicians cut open the throat of a living pig. To study the heart they cut into its chest. For centuries, physicians and researchers used animals to enhance their knowledge about how the various organs and systems of the body functioned, as well as to improve their surgical skills. As this knowledge grew, new scientific disciplines were born. First physiology, and pharmacology, and much later bacteriology, and immunology evolved as animal experimentation became more widespread. Table 2 depicts the great leaps animal experimentation has provided to the human race. This timeline is proof of
great advances gained from animal tes...
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Jerome David Salinger’s only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, is based on the life events shaping main character, Holden Caulfield, into the troubled teen that is telling the story in 1950. The theme of the story is one of emotional disconnection felt by the alienated teenagers of this time period. The quote, “ I didn’t know anyone there that was splendid and clear thinking and all” (Salinger 4) sets the tone that Holden cannot find a connection with anyone around him and that he is on a lonely endeavor in pursuit of identity, acceptance and legitimacy. The trials and failures that Holden faces on his journey to find himself in total shed light on Holden’s archenemy, himself.
I chose to read and comment on Barbara Kiefer’s “Envisioning Experience: The Potential of Picture Books.” Kiefer’s main point in writing this essay was to get the message across that children enjoy picture books that allow them to identify and make connections with the characters or the plots, and that while reading and analyzing the pictures, they gain a better sense of aesthetics and how to interpret them.
Animal testing has gone back as far as three hundred B.C.E with the Greek physician and philosopher, Aristotle (*). Then there was Galen, a Greek physician, who studied animals in Rome and learned more about medicine, made advancements in understanding anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. To modern society, Galen is referred to as being the father of vivisection. In the twelfth century in Spain, Ibn Zuhr, an Arab physician who made use of animal experimentation that led to testing the effectiveness of surgical procedures, first on animals, and then applying the information to human patients. Though most of his testings were on goats, much of his research went into postmortem autopsies and dissections. (Hajar) (Naik)
Since the time of Aristotle, animals have been used to further human progress. When Galen pioneered the study of anatomy or when Harvey discovered the circulation of blood, they used animals as a vital portion of their work. Why? Because at the time there was no alternative short of testing on human beings, an option very few would morally accept then or even now.
Senick, Gerard J., and Hedblad, Alan. Children’s Literature Review: Excerpts from Reviews, and Commentary on Books for Children and Young People (Volumes 14, 34, 35). Detroit, Michigan: Gale Research, 1995..
At the turn of the new century, activists begun to protest the morality of animal experimentation: “… such methodology is far too cruel on beast, it cannot better mankind, but its lead to it demise…” Despite the rising concern for animal safety in laboratory research, federal legislations approved the practice. According to the federal bureaucrats, it is an essential tool to improve our current medical knowledge. Hence, most of the tested animals have a relatively shorter life span than human. Thus, it allows to test long-term disease in a smaller timeframe. Nonetheless, animal enthusiast request the banishment of animal experimentation in laboratory. Ergo, with our current technology, researchers are capable to reproduce the same result
It has always been amazing to realize how well the literature I read as a child has stayed with me through the years. It takes an exceptional writer to compose a narrative that maintains a storyline on the same level of a child's understanding; it takes everything short of a miracle to keep a child's interest. However, that undertaking has been accomplished by many skilled authors, and continues to be an area of growth in the literary world. Only this year the New York Times has given the genre of children's literature the credit it deserves by creating a separate best-sellers list just for outstanding children's books. Yet, on another level, children's literature is not only for the young. I believe that the mark of a brilliant children's author is the age range of those who get pleasure from the stories; the wider the range, the better.
Salinger continues his use of installing reality in fiction by Holden’s hospitalization. The reader finds out within the first chapter that Holden is being hospitalized due to a recent mental breakdown (Salinger). Interestingly enough, Salinger was also hospitalized shortly after his combat in WWII for his mental breakdown (Biography). Clearly, Salinger was making a major connection to himself through Holden by giving his character his
I agree with the statements above, because we have different types of learners when it comes to storybooks. Children, who have a hard time with reading, tend to shy away from books with just words. It helps the teacher when she can select a storybook with interesting pictures to go along with the words, because it will help to grab the child/children’s attention. In my experience in the classroom, I have found that picture books that are colorful, playful, and use rhyming words are the most fun when teaching young children. Showing the children the pictures while you read; helps to engage
Part 1, The Basics of Leadership, Chapter 1 covers Fundamentals of Leadership while Roles and Relationships are covered in Chapter 2. This section describes and depicts levels of Leadership. We as a military are set apart from other non-military professions in that Soldiers must be prepared to use deadly force and have the courage required to close with and destroy the enemy. All leaders, from non-commissioned officers and warrant officers, to commissioned officers, inherently possess a great responsibility. The repercussions of decisions and actions impact the lives of Soldiers and their families. Additionally, these decisions affect the battlefield environment including enemy and non-combatants, both military and
As an officer in the United States Army, it has been imperative for me to understand every facet of leadership and why it remains important to be an effective leader. During this course, I have learned some valuable lessons about myself as a leader and how I can improve on my leadership ability in the future. The journal entries along with the understanding of available leadership theories have been an integral part of my learning during this course. For all of the journals and assessments that I completed, I feel it has given me a good understanding of my current leadership status and my future potential as a leader. All of the specific assessments looked at several areas in regards to leadership; these assessments covered several separate focus areas and identified my overall strengths and weaknesses as a leader. Over the course of this paper I will briefly discuss each one of these assessments and journal entries as they pertained to me and my leadership.
Animal experimentation can be very useful for testing new products and finding new medical treatment’s to save people’s lives. Many people’s lives depend on the research done on the animals. If scientist did not experiment with animals many more people would lose their life (Derbyshire). Animals are used to test new medical treatments to see if they will be effective on humans. Animal experimentation has been very helpful in the medical field; it has been used to discover antibiotics, vaccines, blood transfusions, insulin, and anesthetics. Animals are a very vital part of medical research; without them is would be very difficult to discover new treatments (Franklin). Animals are also used to test new cosmetic products before they are used on humans. The last way animals are used for is genetic experiments to help scientist figure out how different genes work (“Animal Research”). Humans benefit a lot by using animals for experimentation. Without the animals it would be very difficult to find new medical and to save a lot of people’s lives.
Literature has an enormous impact on a child’s development during the early years of his or her life. It is important for parents and teachers to instill a love of reading in children while they are still young and impressionable. They are very naive and trusting because they are just beginning to develop their own thoughts, so they will believe anything they read (Lesnik, 1998). This is why it is so important to give them literature that will have a positive impact. Literature can make children more loving, intelligent and open minded because reading books gives them a much wider perspective on the world. Through reading, children’s behavior can be changed, modified or extended, which is why books are so influential in children’s lives while they are young (Hunt, 1998). Literature has the power to affect many aspects of a child’s life and shapes their future adult life.
Our readings reference many previously researched benefits of Interactive Reading which include (but certainly are not limited to) developing children's joy of learning, art of listening, vocabulary, concepts of print, patterns and structures of written language, understanding of different genres, oral language expression, and understanding of the components, structure, and function of narrative discourse, connection with others and the world. (Fisher et all, 2006, p. 8-16).
The use of animals in medical research began in the early years of physicians such as Aristotle (384-322 BC), Erasistratus (304-258 BC) and Galen (129-199/217 AD). These physicians performed experiments on animals to understand things such as anatomy and physiology. An experimental method for testing surgical procedures was introduced by Ibn Zuhr, an Arab physician; surgical procedures were carried out on animals before it was applied to human patients.