Students give their reactions to Cardiff University’s recent experiments on kittens.For
Alexey Underwood
Whenever considering the issue of animal testing, the phrase ÔÇÿnecessary evilÔÇÖ often springs to my mind ÔÇô and in CardiffÔÇÖs case in particular, the situation is no different.
In terms of PR, it is indeed very unfortunate. ThereÔÇÖs no denying that the researchers did take quite possibly the worldÔÇÖs cutest animals, and did indeed carry out truly barbaric-sounding experiments on them.
However, the reality isnÔÇÖt quite as straightforward as that, and this isnÔÇÖt just experimentation for the sake of experimentation.
Neither the Cardiff scientists, nor the Home Office officials are the sadistic monsters the public is making them out to be ÔÇô theyÔÇÖre human beings, same as us, who arenÔÇÖt afraid to do whatÔÇÖs necessary to solve issues that are very real.
The university is adamant that such research wouldnÔÇÖt be initiated without direct healthcare benefits ÔÇô and already, thanks to the controversial research, CardiffÔÇÖs scientists have improved their understanding of the processes in the brain that adapt it to changes in the developing visual system. Already, real, tangible steps are being made towards understanding and treating amblyopia, thanks to this study.
As such, amblyopia may be set for a place in the long list of conditions made significantly more treatable thanks to animal studies ÔÇô a list that includes meningitis, diabetes, polio and asthma.
Furthermore, understanding lazy eye was but one of six objectives of the experiment ÔÇô the study simply wouldnÔÇÖt have gotten the go-ahead if there werenÔÇÖt numerous benefits to be reaped from it.
Despite what the public are saying, Cardiff University has insisted that it is absolutely impossible to collect this data in any other way ÔÇô alternative technology such as CT scanning and computer modelling is simply inadequate for this study.
IÔÇÖd be willing to bet that scientists know their own science better than the average angry Twitter user or overly outspoken critic.
And speaking of critics, I must ask for a little self-reflection on the part of the ones who (this is especially relevant to the student body), in their spare time, insist on partaking in budget supermarket food and fast food ÔÇô markets mired in questionable morality ÔÇô in spite of genuinely viable and equally useful alternatives. Hopefully, the misplaced moral values will then become more apparent.
Against
Emma Dudley
I actually had to check the calendar year when the news about Cardiff UniversityÔÇÖs kittens research broke. It disappoints me that, in the year 2012, some studies are still using animal test subjects, despite all of our supposed advancements in medical science and gene therapy. Cardiff University says in its media statements that it is trying to conduct less animal testing ÔÇô yet it accounts for 96% of animal testing carried out by universities in Wales.
The crucial difference between animal and human testing is that human participants are given a choice whether to participate or not – animals werenÔÇÖt. Cardiff University in its statement, uses the same tactic every pro-testing campaign does ÔÇô tugging at peopleÔÇÖs heart strings by alluding to the children that would have suffered without animal testing, or referring to the medications, such as those for diabetes, that needed animal testing in order to be developed. This is almost a dirty tactic, and distracts people from the fact that animals are put through suffering that no one in this country would allow any human being to endure.
Cardiff University states that there are researchers who are actively looking into ways of cutting down on using animals in experiments ÔÇô yet it continues to support animal testing in accordance with the Home Office laws. But are these laws not as old-fashioned and useless as animal testing itself? If, instead of kittens, humans were to have had their eyes sewn shut and electrodes cut into their necks, there would have been uproar. We are already at the top of the food chain, and we have caused enough destruction and extinction as it is, yet we still abuse the lives of those weaker than us in order to prolong our own. What gives us this right to play God with animalsÔÇÖ lives?
Cardiff University needs to focus on cutting down on animal research, and instead ask for human subjects, and demonstrate to the public that there are ways other than sewing kittensÔÇÖ eyes shut to medically advance ourselves in the 21st century.
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