The average factory-farmed animal is treated with even worse levels of cruelty than this, for a far lesser return, and I still eat meat because it is the path of least resistance.
The benefits of animal research for medicine, even if "there is no clear evidence that the experiments led to changes in public health recommendations" for any one specific lab, are too great to throw away over a bleeding-heart animal welfare story.
I don't celebrate the cruelty; in fact, I think things should be far different, mostly for the current state of factory farming, but I am not an idealist who thinks that the suffering we bring these animals invalidates the benefits we bring our own species through these experiments.
There are some recent breakthroughs that make it way easier to do testing without animals, including biochips that use human cells for drug testing. I greatly support this and hope it spares more animals from experimentation, but for certain domains like one highlighted in this story (neurological research), I am willing to accept that animal testing is still necessary.
The benefits of animal research for medicine, even if "there is no clear evidence that the experiments led to changes in public health recommendations" for any one specific lab, are too great to throw away over a bleeding-heart animal welfare story.
I don't celebrate the cruelty; in fact, I think things should be far different, mostly for the current state of factory farming, but I am not an idealist who thinks that the suffering we bring these animals invalidates the benefits we bring our own species through these experiments.
There are some recent breakthroughs that make it way easier to do testing without animals, including biochips that use human cells for drug testing. I greatly support this and hope it spares more animals from experimentation, but for certain domains like one highlighted in this story (neurological research), I am willing to accept that animal testing is still necessary.