Capstone Project
Essential question for my Honors Mentorship Project is "What are the ethical and moral considerations behind using animals in research, testing, and laboratory settings."
What I Need to Know
I have a great love for animals. So when I learned that animals were used as test subjects in laboratories, I was disgusted. I couldn't understand why someone would put an animal under horrible conditions. Even if they were able to obtain new information and data, it didn't make sense to me. However, I didn't want to base my opinions on false truths and lies. This is what led me to do my own research. It is through this research that I was able to formulate my personal opinion on the usage of laboratory animals.
What I Know or Assume
I didn't know much going into this project. l didn't know about the laws in place to protect animals in laboratory settings. Additionally, I didn't know the truth behind how these animals were treated. All I knew was that animals are used as test subject in the cosmetic and drug industry. I assumed that there were some regulations in place, but that they weren't doing enough. I also assumed that these animals were living in terrible conditions and abused every moment of their life. These assumptions arose from seeing ads and social media posts through the internet.
The Search
To answer my essential question, I did a lot of research online by searching for scientific journals and articles. All of the articles were written by medical specialists of veterinary organizations. They focused on the use of laboratory animals. To search for my articles, I looked on Google Scholar, which only looks for certified published articles published in scientific journals. I read all the articles and made sure that they didn't have any bias or false information. All of the sources I found tried to look at both sides of the argument and gave evidence to support their argument. Furthermore, the authors of the articles told us why they did or didn't support animal usage in labs. They were also all written by people involved in medicine, science, and veterinary parties. Thus, we know that these articles are giving as scientifically correct information as possible. The sources that I found were very thorough and detailed. For example, one of my articles was written by a Stanford student and another was written by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Additionally, all my annotated bibliographies included evidence from government laws or medical experiments. In addition to resources found online, I conducted an interview with my mentor at the Pleasant Hill Animal Hospital. Through this interview, I learned many things about being an interview. My mentor answered questions on difficulties, good experiences, and common cases seen as a veterinarian. I was able to understand how much she loved and cared for animals.
What I Discovered
There were many things I discovered in my search for new information. I had originally though that while there were regulations in place to protect the lab animals but that they didn't do much. However, I learnt that there are actually quite a lot regulations in place that ensure perfect living conditions for the laboratory animals. For example, They also ensure that animals are not allowed to be used unless there are no other options. While there are some places that do not treat their animals correctly, the government is doing a lot to change this and improve conditions for them. For example, "The Act requires that proposals for research involving the use of animals must be fully assessed in terms of any harm to the animals. This involves detailed examination of the particular procedures and experiments, and the numbers and types of animal used." (Festing & Wilkinson 2.) Furthermore, through my research, I learned about the deeper reasoning behind banning animal experimentation. Many animal rights activists state that,"An important part of the debate over animal rights centers on the question of the moral status of an animal." (Liou 5.) Depending on the personal views on the moral status of other species may lead someone to think one way or another. I also assumed that there could be no benefits of animals in their participation in these experiments. But I learned by using animal subjects, we can benefit both animals and humans. For example, studies on cancer in animals can help use learn how to treat cancer in other animals and humans and what treatments work. Additionally, "Because animals as distant from humans as mice and rats share many physiological and genetic similarities with humans, animal experimentation can be tremendously helpful for furthering medical science." (Liou 1.) This research led me to formulate my own opinion. I believe that while animals should be the last resort for research purposes, there can be many uses for their participation. Thus, if the animal is treated with care, and is required for certain things to be learned, then the usage of animals in laboratory setting should be allowed.