Thursday, June 28, 2012
Vivisection
In my previous 15 questions, there was a question I mentioned about vivisection. Today I would like to explain what vivisection is and would like to talk what I feel towards that.
First of all, vivisection is an animal experiment tested at schools and universities in the purpose of students to dissect animals.
"Every year, tens of millions of animals are dissected, infected, injected, gassed, burned and blinded in hidden laboratories on college campuses and research facilities throughout the U.S. Still more animals are used to test the safety of cosmetics, household cleansers and other consumer products. These innocent primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, rodents and other animals are used against their will as research subjects in experiments and procedures that would be considered sadistically cruel were they not conducted in the name of science."
What I honestly thought when I read this is that I had a doubt if vivisection is really needed at schools. Without sctually testing and dissecting animals, they might get to learn from watching the actual videos of it. I thought that might help at least half of the animals that are killed. Of course I am not saying that vivisection isnt in need, indeed it is nesesary to train talented people. I just thought that there might be ways that tens of millions of animals won't be killed.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
yahoo groups
I found this yahoo group called greenvibrations. This is a group for animal lovers, eco warriors, environmentalists, flower people,
conservationists, vegetarians and vegans.
Vivisection, the Ivory Trade, GM Crops, Animal Cloning, Animals in Circuses, Bloodsports, Nuclear Waste Dumping, Animals in Sport, Endangered Animals, Fur, Global Warming, Animal Experiments, Exotic Pet Trade, Over Fishing, Whaling, Factory Farming, Transport of Livestock & the Meat Trade, Domestic Pet Issues, Deforestation & Habitat Destruction, Wild Animals in Captivity, Pollution, and any animal/environmental are mainly disscused here so I thought it might be good to join this and know more about animal rights.
Total mebers are 614 and ithis group was founded in Aug 7, 1999 and the spoken language is English.
Vivisection, the Ivory Trade, GM Crops, Animal Cloning, Animals in Circuses, Bloodsports, Nuclear Waste Dumping, Animals in Sport, Endangered Animals, Fur, Global Warming, Animal Experiments, Exotic Pet Trade, Over Fishing, Whaling, Factory Farming, Transport of Livestock & the Meat Trade, Domestic Pet Issues, Deforestation & Habitat Destruction, Wild Animals in Captivity, Pollution, and any animal/environmental are mainly disscused here so I thought it might be good to join this and know more about animal rights.
Total mebers are 614 and ithis group was founded in Aug 7, 1999 and the spoken language is English.
Introducing Yahoo! Groups
I'd like to introduce you a very good public Yahoo! Group that I found.
It is called Ethological Ethics. The founder of this group, Marc Bekoff, regularly updates with his blog posts on various issues on animal rights. He is a professor at the Colorado University and lectures on issues of animal behavior, the ethology on animal minds, and behavior ecology. The last post of his was "Do Dogs Really Feel Pain and Are They Really Conscious?" This could be related to our topic on animal experimentation.
I thought this was a good group because there are up-to-date posts and all of it contains of NO SPAMS!!! It is hard to find public Yahoo! groups with no spam messages. I joined a different group that required a membership because I thought if they require you a membership, they would post some real and useful information, but I was wrong, all they had was spam posts, which was really disappointing.
It is called Ethological Ethics. The founder of this group, Marc Bekoff, regularly updates with his blog posts on various issues on animal rights. He is a professor at the Colorado University and lectures on issues of animal behavior, the ethology on animal minds, and behavior ecology. The last post of his was "Do Dogs Really Feel Pain and Are They Really Conscious?" This could be related to our topic on animal experimentation.
I thought this was a good group because there are up-to-date posts and all of it contains of NO SPAMS!!! It is hard to find public Yahoo! groups with no spam messages. I joined a different group that required a membership because I thought if they require you a membership, they would post some real and useful information, but I was wrong, all they had was spam posts, which was really disappointing.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
word clouds
I made a word cloud based on the text of web page I found about animal rights.
The word, animals, rights, respect, happiness are conspicous.
Reading this word cloud, you could know that this web page I found is pro animal rights.
Munoz, G. "Animal Rights." /library.thinkquest.org. Oracle, 1999. Web. 14 Jun 2012. <http://library.thinkquest.org/26026/Philosophy/animal_rights.html>.
The word, animals, rights, respect, happiness are conspicous.
Reading this word cloud, you could know that this web page I found is pro animal rights.
Word Clouds
I made two word clouds using two different websites that have different opinions about animal experimentation. These word clouds were both made at Wordle <http://www.wordle.net/>
The first word cloud I'd like to show you is this one.
If a word is emphasized, that means the word is used frequently in the article that I used to make the word cloud. In this case the word "research" is emphasized. This article I used to create a word cloud was from website that supports animal experimentation, Pro-Test. They are claiming that animal experimentation is necessary for medical improvement and that they are using a minimum amount of animals.
Pro-Test, . "Benefits of Animal Research." Pro-test. Pro-Test, 2006. Web. 14 Jun 2012. http://www.pro-test.org.uk/facts.php?lt=c.
The next word cloud is from a website that despises any kind of cruelty towards animals. You might have heard of this organization if you are interested in this topic, PETA. Unlike the word cloud above, this one contains lots of negative words, such as, suffer, fear, cruel, pain, blood, and etc. They feel any kind of experiment on animals are cruel and should be forbidden.
PETA, . "Animal Used for Experimentation." Peta. PETA, 2012. Web. 14 Jun 2012. http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/default2.aspx
The first word cloud I'd like to show you is this one.
If a word is emphasized, that means the word is used frequently in the article that I used to make the word cloud. In this case the word "research" is emphasized. This article I used to create a word cloud was from website that supports animal experimentation, Pro-Test. They are claiming that animal experimentation is necessary for medical improvement and that they are using a minimum amount of animals.
Pro-Test, . "Benefits of Animal Research." Pro-test. Pro-Test, 2006. Web. 14 Jun 2012. http://www.pro-test.org.uk/facts.php?lt=c.
The next word cloud is from a website that despises any kind of cruelty towards animals. You might have heard of this organization if you are interested in this topic, PETA. Unlike the word cloud above, this one contains lots of negative words, such as, suffer, fear, cruel, pain, blood, and etc. They feel any kind of experiment on animals are cruel and should be forbidden.
PETA, . "Animal Used for Experimentation." Peta. PETA, 2012. Web. 14 Jun 2012. http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/default2.aspx
Thursday, June 7, 2012
What is AWA?
In one of my previous questions, there was a question said, "what is AWA?". Now I'm going to explain what AWA is.
First of all, AWA stands for Animal Welfare Act and this protects certain animals in certain facilities. The AWA is a federal law that was passed in 1966. It empowers the Animal Care program of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to issue licenses and adopt and enforce regulations. The AWA applies to facilities that breed animals for commercial sale, use animals in research, transport animal commercially, or publicly exhibit animals. (Including zoos, aquariums, research facilities, puppy mills, animal dealers, and circuses.) The regulations adopted under the AWA establish minimum care standards for animals in these facilities. (Including adequate housing, handling, sanitation, nutrition, water, veterinary care and protection from extreme weather and temperatures.)
“Any live or dead dog, cat, monkey (nonhuman primate mammal), guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or such other warmblooded animal, as the Secretary may determine is being used, or is intended for use, for research, testing, experimentation, or exhibition purposes, or as a pet.” according to the legal definition of the AWA. On the other hand, The AWA has exclusions for birds, rats, mice used in research. This is because 95% of the animals used in research are mice and rats and because the nine billion land animals slaughtered for food in the US every year are exempted, the vast majority of animals used by humans are excluded from the AWA’s protection.
Ansering one of my questions
I’d like to answer one of the questions which I posted previously. The question was “Are there any religious reasons why they shouldn’t do experiments on animals?”. I will be writing about the relations between the different beliefs towards animal experiments and religion.
Let’s start off with Buddhism. Buddhists think that lives of human and non-human should be treated equally. This comes from the perspective that a soul may be reborn either in a human body or in the body of a non-human animal and, therefore, animals should not be killed. Though Buddhists feel it is morally wrong to do experiments on animals if there is any harm to the animal, they also understand that experiments are beneficial for human health, so they accept animal experiments in cases such as 1) if it is for a good purpose, 2) if it is only on animals where there is no alternative, 3) design the experiment to do as little harm as possible, 4) avoid killing the animal unless it is absolutely necessary, 5) treat the animals concerned kindly and respectfully.
Jews have a similar way of thinking towards animals. Animals are part of God’s creation and should be treated with compassion. They accept experiments on animals in conditions when 1) there is a real possibility of a benefit to human beings, 2) There is no unnecessary pain involved.
On the other hand, Christians think that human beings are greatly superior to animals and people could harm them as badly as people wanted to. (Modern Christians are not so brutal minded) They think that animals don’t have any pain, or if they did it is not as bad as we humans feel and because animals are less important than human beings, it is natural to think that animals should be used in experiments for our benefits.
While Buddhist are more friendly and Christians are more heartless towards animals, Muslims have a sort of mixture of the previous two religions. They say to treat animals with kindness and compassion, and at the same time, they also say that animals exist for the benefit of human beings. Animals should not be treated badly, but they could be used for human benefit.
From what I researched there aren’t religions that forbid animal experiments, they consider it OK if there is little harm to the animal.
BBC, . "Ethics Guid." Animal ethics. BBC, 2012. Web. 7 Jun 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/>.
Let’s start off with Buddhism. Buddhists think that lives of human and non-human should be treated equally. This comes from the perspective that a soul may be reborn either in a human body or in the body of a non-human animal and, therefore, animals should not be killed. Though Buddhists feel it is morally wrong to do experiments on animals if there is any harm to the animal, they also understand that experiments are beneficial for human health, so they accept animal experiments in cases such as 1) if it is for a good purpose, 2) if it is only on animals where there is no alternative, 3) design the experiment to do as little harm as possible, 4) avoid killing the animal unless it is absolutely necessary, 5) treat the animals concerned kindly and respectfully.
Jews have a similar way of thinking towards animals. Animals are part of God’s creation and should be treated with compassion. They accept experiments on animals in conditions when 1) there is a real possibility of a benefit to human beings, 2) There is no unnecessary pain involved.
On the other hand, Christians think that human beings are greatly superior to animals and people could harm them as badly as people wanted to. (Modern Christians are not so brutal minded) They think that animals don’t have any pain, or if they did it is not as bad as we humans feel and because animals are less important than human beings, it is natural to think that animals should be used in experiments for our benefits.
While Buddhist are more friendly and Christians are more heartless towards animals, Muslims have a sort of mixture of the previous two religions. They say to treat animals with kindness and compassion, and at the same time, they also say that animals exist for the benefit of human beings. Animals should not be treated badly, but they could be used for human benefit.
From what I researched there aren’t religions that forbid animal experiments, they consider it OK if there is little harm to the animal.
BBC, . "Ethics Guid." Animal ethics. BBC, 2012. Web. 7 Jun 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/>.
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