An Introduction to Animal Research Ethics Sam Garner

An Introduction to Animal Research Ethics Sam Garner, M. Bioethics Samual. garner@gmail. com

Macaque inhalation anthrax study • 24 cynomolgus macaques exposed to anthrax. • Macaques experienced: lethargy, diarrhea, fever, bacteremia, inappetance, vomiting, respiratory distress, pain. • 10 of 12 animals in control group died w/o treatment over the course of 4 days. • All remaining animals were killed at the end of the study. • Necropsy showed significant vascular and organ pathology. Henning, Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, 2012

Where Are We Going? • Things to note • The nature of the debate • Why does this matter? • A brief history of ideas • Justification of animal research and critique • Case study • Concluding remarks and discussion

Things to Note • Bracket the science and focus on the ethics. • Bracket other animal issues. • Distinguish between blaming individuals and thinking critically about a practice. • I’ll use the term ‘animal’ as a shorthand for nonhuman animal.

The Nature of the Debate One end: research with non-human animals is beneficial and critical to advancing biomedical science for human health and is therefore justified. The other end: Animals are owed utility-trumping strong rights and are not instruments of science.

Why Does This Matter? • IOM Report: “Chimpanzees in Biomedical and Behavioral Research: Assessing the Necessity” • Changing regulatory landscape abroad • Public opinion • Scientific community opinion polls • Legal rights for chimps • This is the biomedical paradigm

A Brief (Select) History of Ideas

Nuremberg Code and Declaration of Helsinki • Require animal experimentation before moving to humans.

Russell and Burch • “The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique” • Introduced the 3 Rs— replacement, reduction and refinement.

Contemporary Philosophy

Animal Experimentation: Justification and Critique

The Justification • Animal research is beneficial/useful/necessary and, therefore, justified.

Ethics and Moral Status Ethics is centrally concerned with protecting and/or promoting interests. Moral status is to be morally considerable because you matter in your own right. We have an obligation to consider your interests.

How much do animals matter? • Do they count just as much as people? If so, why? (Equal Consideration) • Do they count for less? If so, why? (Unequal Consideration)

Equal Consideration (EC) • To consider the comparable interests of animals and humans with equal moral weight. • Argument from marginal cases: if we have strong obligations to non-paradigm humans, then we must have similar obligations to nonhumans with similar capacities. • Strong rights (Regan) • Utilitarianism (Singer)

Unequal Consideration (UC) • To consider the interests of animals with less weight because they are the interests of animals. • Argument from species • Moral agency and contractarianism • Carl Cohen ‘of a kind’ • Social bondedness view (Midgely/Brody)

Questions • If animals count for less, does that equate to weaker prohibitions against harm? (A lesser harm is not necessarily a justifiable harm). • If animals count for less, how beneficial to human health must the science be? Would basic research be acceptable? Or only some preclinical? • Should there be limits to the amount of harm we can cause animals (or risk thresholds)? • How should we view animal research ethics in light of our approach to human research ethics (more rightsbased view)?

Recap: Case Study • Do you think the inhalation anthrax macaque study was justifiable? If so, why? If not, why not?

Suggested Reading • Carl Cohen and Tom Regan, The Animal Rights Debate, 1999. • David De. Grazia, Taking Animals Seriously, 1996. • Jeremy Garrett, The Ethics of Animal Research: Exploring the Controversy, 2012. • Andrew Knight, The Costs and Benefits of Animal Experiments, 2011. • Samual. garner@gmail. com

Thank you