Animal Research - Should I do it?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

To my mind, you are the ideal person to be conducting animal research. It is important that researchers stay mindful of the welfare of their subjects and you clearly will. The short version of my advise would be to continue on your path and conduct animal research only when you see that it is clearly necessary, follow the 3R's diligently, and know that your work will improve the lives of many humans, and very possibly many animals as well.

Also, you're not in as much of a minority as it feels right now. Because of the polarizing nature of the debate and the increase in threats and violence, a lot of people simply don't feel comfortable discussing the more nuanced threads of the issue. It is very possible your professors share some of your misgivings but don't feel it is appropriate to share that with their students (I'm not saying they are right to shut down the discussion, just that their concerns is understandable). Nature just released polling data showing that 33% of researchers surveyed had "ethical concerns" regarding animal research. It also showed that as many as 70% don't feel comfortable discussing these misgivings with the public--your professors may feel the same about students. Even if this is not true of your teachers, it is clearly true of a significant subset of your chosen field. I highly recommend checking out the book An Odyssey with Animals by veterinarian and REM researchers Adrian R. Morrison. You will likely disagree with him on a number of points, but his book is excellent evidence that there are other neuroscientists who realize, as you do, how complex the situation really is.

Even among advocates of animal rights, there are those who acknowledge the value of animal use in biomedical research. Peter Singer, who quite literally wrote the book on animal rights, has come out in support of specific experiments when it is shown that the number of people who benefit dwarf the number of animals used. Perhaps the most famous vegetarian in the world, the Dalai Lama has also supported animal research, saying "treat them respectfully, do not exploit them. In immediate term, you may lose something, but, long run, you gain much benefit."

I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.

Nature Survey of Animal Researchers: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110223/full/470452a.html
Peter Singer on Parkinson's Study: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article650168.ece
Dalai Lama Quote: http://ar-hr.com/2009/06/17/words-from-the-wise-the-dalai-lama-and-animal-research/

Look at www.stopanimaltests.com before you go into using animals for research.

And consider this... I read a report that said autopsies performed on people who had died from Alzheimer's showd they had the same plaques in their brains that cause heart disease when in their arteries... I E-mailed WWW.ALZ.ORG & asked "Do vegetarians get Alzheimer's" & they never answered... so makes me wonder if something as simple as eating less meat can prevent this disease. Something to think about & research?

This is something very personal so its not going to be easy to make a decision. My opinion for what it is worth:

You know that you will be limited considerably if you avoid all the animal research. So is there a way that you can do tthe reasearch - and use that experience to campaign for more humane research? If you accept that it has to be done for the good of mankind - as you say for Alzheimer drugs, and the current research into certain fish breeds to aid with heart conditions - but are there more appropriate ways to do this?

Do you see what I mean - if we can't eliminate it altogether, use your experiences to start your own campaign for smarter and more ethical animal research!

As humans seek longer lives and "healthier" bodies, our demand for research will only increase...

No. Would you want to be taken against you will into a facility where you will be tortured and probably end up being killed (unless someone liberates you which is not so likely) for a worthless things you could either have figured out on willing humyn participants or that didn't need to be found out in the first place.

If you are going vegan than naturally your answer too this question is NO. It will always be no if you are actually vegan because the idea of veganism is simple don't exploit animals and work towards ending their exploitation while finding alternatives that don't exploit animals, the environment and humyns.

Your future is not important compared to all the animals tortured and killed at the hands of "science" if you have to become a torturer and murderer to "further" your life than you are just going backwards. Most of the animal testing done is on useless experiments that don't provide us with any useful knowledge. Testing on already known toxins like bleach, splenda, and olestra or even pouring gasoline down someone's throat for no real sensible reason other than profit. It is testing on useless and already easily proven toxic chemicals that can be proven without any testing on anybody.

Some of my favorite quotes against animal testing:
Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are like us." Ask the experimenters why it is morally okay to experiment on animals, and the answer is: "Because the animals are not like us." Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction. ~Charles R. Magel

Vivisection is a social evil because if it advances human knowledge, it does so at the expense of human character. ~George Bernard Shaw

I am not interested to know whether vivisection produces results that are profitable to the human race or doesn't.... The pain which it inflicts upon unconsenting animals is the basis of my enmity toward it, and it is to me sufficient justification of the enmity without looking further. ~Mark Twain

I think animal testing is a terrible idea; they get all nervous and give the wrong answers.


I abhor vivisection. It should at least be curbed. Better, it should be abolished. I know of no achievement through vivisection, no scientific discovery, that could not have been obtained without such barbarism and cruelty. The whole thing is evil. - Dr. Charles W. Mayo

...many vivisectors still claim that what they do helps save human lives. They are Lying. The truth is that animal experiments kill people, and animal researchers are responsible for the deaths of thousands of men, women and children every year. Dr. Coleman Vernon


If Animal testing was so great then why are people still dying because of cancer and aids and all these other diseases that have been so heavily tested on animals? Why is it that in the year 2011 we are still think it is ok to kill someone else to potentially 100s of years down the line maybe extend someones life a year or two if they don't die from the drugs that may or may not have worked on the animals.

I have been studying animal research, vivisection and various companies involved with it as well as having two parents in the medical profession since before I was even born so I have picked up a lot of knowledge throughout the years. Also I am vegan because animals are not property or test subjects or anything else but living sentient creatures that deserve their freedom from all exploitation.