Right, the debate here is fairly straightforward.
Do you think that experimentation on animals is justifiable, do you think it can never be justifiable. Would you please share your opinions with us?
I’ve intended starting this thread for a while, but have been put off by the size of the subject and the intensity of people’s likely opinions on both sides of the debate (and one of my last threads was on gun control 
). But finally here it is.
I would ask that people try to keep this fairly civil, as I don’t really want this to end up in the pit but to otherwise be free in offering their own opinion.
My views on the subject are below. I make no apologies for the fact that a large portion of this has been lifted from my last post on the subject (which was also my first ever post) because I feel it pretty much nailed what I wanted to say there.
My master’s degree is in toxicology and an extensive part of the course covered the use of animals in research and the reasons for their use. I have done work involving the use of animals (mostly cell culture, however this still involves killing animals to get the cells and make the reagents). I therefore feel that I am well informed about most if not all of the issues involved in animal experimentation. As you might expect I have devoted a considerable amount of time soul searching about this subject but in the final analysis I feel my conscience is clear. I actually feel worse about eating meat (not that I am likely to stop anytime soon).
However I feel that the essential issue is that of whether human life should be placed before that of animals. I believe this to be justifiable and make no apologies for my view. I do nevertheless accept that it would be possible for someone taking the opposite view to know everything I do about animal research and still be opposed to it.
If you feel strongly about this and similar issues by all means take whatever legal means you feel necessary to register your disagreement. I believe that people should take a stand for what they believe in and there are ways in which peaceful protest can help everybody, not all research conducted on animals is justifiable and such action can contribute to changing this. You might be surprised how sympathetic many researchers working with animals are to this.
I also feel though that if you are demonstrating about an issue you have a moral responsibility to be well informed about that issue. Many of the organisations which protest the loudest on this subject are not a good source of such information, if this is your primary source of information then it is likely that most of the things that you think you know about animal research are flat out untrue. This is worth repeating, much of the information that is presented by anti-vivisectionist groups on the subject of animal research is completely wrong. I do not necessarily believe that there is always intent to deceive here; I think many of the individuals disseminating this information genuinely believe in it but that does not alter the fact that it is simply not true. There are organisations that attempt to provide an unbiased view of animal research and I would urge anyone interested in the subject to seek them out.
I would also add that violent anti vivisectionist activity is almost always counterproductive. Targeting of research facilities drives research contracts to countries with much less animal rights legislation. Targeting of individuals stifles vital debate about the issue. Breaking in to a lab and disrupting research merely guarantees that the work will have to be repeated with more animals. The UK in particular has very strict rules on animal experimentation and I find it tragic that the targeting of organisations here risks driving that research elsewhere. Yes bad things did occur at Huntingdon, lessons have been learned from that and as I understand it the few individuals concerned have been severely punished, that doesn’t mean that the people working there deserve to suffer for someone else’s crimes.
There seems to be this view that people who do experiments involving animals are all sick sadistic psychopaths who enjoy torturing things for the fun of it. I don’t think this could possibly be any further from the truth. The people I work with are scientists, most of them love animals (at least two are vegetarians), on the whole they chose that career path out of a desire to find out new things and help people (we sure as hell didn’t do it for the money). The unfortunate fact of the case is that whatever some people would try to tell you research in biology is still very dependent on the sacrifice of living animals. The worst part of my job is undoubtedly the fact that every few weeks I have to go down to the animal house and kill a couple of rats to obtain the cells necessary for the groups work to continue. I like rats, I very much don’t like watching them killed (especially when they jump up at the cage door and do the “pick me” “pick me” routine) but I think it is important for me to remember that this is what my work costs.
Like I said I don’t necessarily disagree with the stance many of the antivivisectionists take. I actually find that many of the more coherent protestors are very similar in personality to me and my workmates and I honestly can’t say what my own opinions on the subject would be if I hadn’t followed science as a career choice and been forced to confront the issue. What I am sure of is that the information I have had available to me to make my decision was much better than most of the information available on the other side of the debate. I don’t find this surprising as unfortunately most people have a tendency to embrace information that agrees with their own views and reject the rest. As I have said, I believe that some people would be against animal experimentation whatever information was given to them I respect that. What annoys me is those individuals loudly campaigning against something that they have little actual knowledge of with out regarding their own hypocrisy in enjoying the benefits that research brings.
I firmly believe that this is an issue which scientists and the public should actually be talking to each other about. Unfortunately it has been my experience that most people who campaign against this sort of research often have little interest in entering into actual debate and most scientists are worried about the prospect of making themselves a spokesperson on the issue (and therefore a target).
I could write much more on this subject but this post is already far to long, so I’ll stop here and let someone else get a word in.