I could, and would, break a rat’s back just because it’s a rat. I’d rather have a spring-loaded trap do the dirty work for me, but I don’t have a problem using a broom or a thrown boot.
It’s been several years, but what I recall from an enzymology course was that the behaviour of Thalidomide is rather unique in humans; we metabolize it differently than other animals do.
Thalidomide has two isomers, which we can think of as a left and right handed version. The right handed version (R-thalidomide) is safe and a good treatment against morning sickness. The left handed version (S-Thalidomide) causes birth defects. The problem is even if a human is given pure R, the body contains an enzyme that will flip it, so that they end up with both R and S in their system. For whatever reason that I am not familiar with, this inter-conversion does not happen in other species.
Even today, there are some drugs that pass animal testing with flying colours, but cause side effects when tested in humans. That’s why the first clinical trials are in very small groups of healthy humans who get paid for the risk they are taking. If testing passes there, researchers go on to larger and larger groups of more symptomatic people… were it to be discovered today, thalidomide would probably still cause birth defects during testing, but many fewer, and it would never have been prescribed to as many women.
I’ve never worked in a lab that tested on animals, and my initial reaction is to say that I probably wouldn’t be able to do that kind of work myself. On the other hand, if I was working on something that interested me, that fascinated me, and that I believed in…I’d probably do it, and perhaps even get used to it.
I could, and I have. It was while I was an undergraduate working as a lab techie. I was shown how to “sacrifice” (what a euphemism) rats, mice, and guinea pigs (different ways). With rats, you just put the tail in one hand and the head in the other and pulled.
I have no problem with shooting animals at a distance, but injuring one with my bare hands is not something I would voluntarily do.
Up close and personal keeps it real, IMHO.
I would if it was my job to do so. Not a job I’d want to take though.