Animal Rights And Biomedical Research
Liz Gaetano
Prof. Drake
Research Paper #1 (rewritten 2)
Foundations 100
12 October 2001
Animal rights and Biomedical research
A controversy impacting today's society is animal rights and biomedical testing. Many animals have been exploited as resources for the human population. Despite the fact that animals are not able to communicate with humans, they have certain rights that are denied when they are used for experimental purposes. Any animal should have rights and biomedical researchers should not be allowed to use animals in their laboratories.
A multitude of reasons exist why animals should not be allowed to be the center of medical research experiments. The Bible speaks of how animals should be treated. An example comes from a passage from the book of Isaiah, 11:6-9.
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them...They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of knowledge of the l Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Regan/Singer, 2).
Isaiah speaks of God creating animals and how they should be treated as God would have wanted. Biomedical research does help society, but the torture and exploitation that animals endure is wrong.
The fundamental wrong behind testing on animals is "the system that allows us to view animals as our resources, here for us- to be eaten, or surgically manipulated, or exploited for sport or money" (Regan, 77). But is this correct? According to Regan and Singer, who refer to the book of Genesis, "Man has been given dominion over the animal kingdom, and it is to be exercised in conformity with human reason and God's will" (Regan/Singer, 133). This may be refuted by not reading into the quote. Many see the good biomedical testing does such as treating diseases for the...
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