Animal Rights: Runs from Animal Liberation to Animal Exploitation

Animal rights and animal welfare fall at different points on a continuum that runs from animal liberation at one end to animal exploitation at the other. The animal rights viewpoint can be defined as the belief that humans do not have the right to use animals for their own gainin the laboratory, on the farm, in entertainment or in the wild. The degree to which humans may benefit from any use of nonhuman animals is irrelevant to determine how animals should be treated. The animal welfare viewpoint advocates the humane use of animals which involves maintaining animal well-being and prohibiting unnecessary cruelty. Many distinctions can be made within these terms but both connote a concern for the suffering of others. A concern for the welfare of animals can be seen in multiple laws set forth in the Old Testament. There are requirements that animals also rest on the Sabbath and that they be fed before feeding oneself. There are prohibitions against, for example, boiling the meat of a kid in his mother’s milk and yoking animals of different sizes together. In ancient Athens, Triptolemus, a Greek demi-god also known as “the most ancient of the Athenian legislators” is said to have established the following law; …Sacrifice to the Gods from the fruits of earth; Injure not animals. And in India, between 274-232 BCE, King Asoka published multiple edicts to protect animals and promote kindness to living beings. Secular anti-cruelty legislation dates back to 1635. At that time a law was passed in Ireland which prohibited working horses by their tails and pulling (rather than shearing) wool from live sheep. The Massachusetts Body of Liberties of 1641 enacted statutory legislation to
McMahan 2 protect animals from cruel treatment. This was the first anti-cruelty law passed in what would become the United States and the first law to protect animals in transit. The taxonomy Carl Linnaeus proposed in the 1700s was based on the similarities among humans and other animals. This along with the work of Charles Darwin and the abhorrence of pain and suffering in Victorian England represents a turning point in the ways in which animals were viewed. Prior to the work of Linnaeus, the Cartesian notion of animals as unfeeling being was widely held. In Victorian England causing an animal unnecessary pain was the measure of animal cruelty. It was at this point in time that vivisection came to be considered an evil. Today vivisection refers to all experimental procedures that result in the injury or death or animals . During the nineteenth century animal welfare organizations came into being. The first such organization in the world, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) was formed in 1824 by Arthur Broome in England and became the Royal SPCA (RSPCA) in 1840 as a result of the patronage of Queen Victoria. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), the first such organization in the Americas, was founded by Henry Bergh in 1866 and was modeled after the RSPCA. Soon many such organizations were founded across the United States. Carolyn Earle White of Philadelphia cofounded not only the Women’s Branch of the Pennsylvania SPCA but also the American Anti-Vivisection Society. The early 1980’s saw the birth of many national animal rights organizations including People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Farm Animal Reform Movement (FARM) and In Defense of Animals (IDA). The Animal Liberation Front (ALF)
McMahan 3 came to America in 1977 releasing two dolphins in a raid of a research lab in Hawaii and received much press in the 1980s for raids of laboratories and releasing animals used in research. While the 1980s was a decade of high media visibility, the protests and demonstrations of some organizations were not garnering as much media coverage in subsequent decades. This, at least in part, resulted in organizations such as Earthsave and Farm Sanctuary moving to education in addition to exposing animal abuse in various industries in the media. Cloning is the technique of producing a genetically identical duplicate of an organism by replacing the nucleus of an unfertilized ovum with the nucleus of a body cell from the organism. Some people agree with this type of reproduction, where others do not agree with it and wish that it could be banned. Genetic engineering was first originated in the late 1960's and early 1970's. But the first experiments were not performed until the early 1990's when scientists began to experiment with the smallest human chromosomes, the Y chromosome and chromosome 21. They were broken down into different smaller parts so that the scientists could reproduce the parts in large quantities. Genetic reconstruction is being used to test and see if a baby is going to develop a hereditary disease that a parent might have passed on to the child. If it shows that the child is going to have this disease, reconstruction enzymes are used to cut apart the DNA of the parents, and the DNA pattern of cells from the fetus is compared. In many situations, the status of the fetus can be determined. As of right now, this process is applicable to thalassemias, Huntington's disease, cystic fibrosis, and Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. Another good discovery of genetic engineering was the discovery of oncogenes. Oncogenes are genes that play
McMahan 4 a specific role in causing some cancers. These genes could not have been discovered any other way than genetic engineering. In the future, scientists hope to be able to go in a cut out the oncogenes to try and prevent some cancers. Genetic engineering is being used many different ways to help better our lives. In my paper, I will describe the many different ways genetic engineering and cloning is being used today. Recent advances in science have led to two astounding technologies. The first of these two is cloning, the process if making an exact copy of a living organism. The second is genetic engineering, which allows scientists to make living things healthier than before. Farmers can grow bigger, juicier vegetables, and doctors can predict whether a baby will have a disease even before it is born. These ideas are brand new thoughts. They used to be just a fantasy, even just 20 years ago these ideas were just beginning to be thought of, but were not a reality. Most scientists back then never dreamed that this technology would ever be a reality like it is now. Genetic engineering is the more helpful of these two technologies, because it can be used to prevent babies from being born with diseases and other birth defects. Cloning is still a very controversial subject though, a lot of people do not agree with the idea of making exact copies of organisms. Cells were first seen under a microscope in 1665 when English scientist Robert Hook was examining a piece of cork in his microscope. He saw tiny holes that appeared to be surrounded by walls, and he gave them the name cell. He named them this because they reminded him of the monk’s cells that they lived in. Even though cells were discovered in 1665, scientists didn’t realize the importance of them until 1838 when German botanist Matthias Schleiden said that he believed cells were the basic unit of life. And, in 1839, Theodor Schwann proved that all living things were made of cells. From that point on, scientists focused their
McMahan 5 attention on the cell. Inventors began constructing more powerful microscopes so the scientists could get a better vies of the cells. The better the microscopes got, the more discoveries were made, they discovered that cells divide (reproduction), and the also saw the nucleus and other smaller parts of the cells. Scientists are using their discoveries in creative, brilliant ways. They are trying to make our food, health and bodies better than ever, and thanks to the new technology, all of these things are possible, not just dreams anymore. Some genes can get damaged when they don’t copy or develop correctly. Others can be damaged by us not taking care of our bodies, doing things such as: using drugs, smoking, abusing alcohol, and getting too much sun. Over 3,000 diseases have been tracked to either heredity or damaged genes; these diseases include forms of cancer and heart disease. If damaged genes could be replaced by those from a healthy donor, many terrible diseases might be avoided before they even fully develop in the future. Scientists have already found over 500 genes that can be used in medicines. An example of one of these medicines is insulin for diabetics. The insulin is injected into a person with diabetes at least once a day, and it tells the bacteria to make insulin once it is injected into the body in order for the body to store and use glucose (blood sugar). If glucose builds in the person’s bloodstream, it can reach dangerous levels and really be harmful to this person. Although it is beginning to look like a possibility, a human clone has not yet been made. Identical twins are the closest thing to clones that we can see right now. Natural identical twins will be much more alike than cloned twins might be. This is because natural twins are grown and nourished inside the same mother, and cloned twins may not be. Since cloned twins may be inside different mothers, the different diets, sleep schedules, and exercise routines may slightly
McMahan 6 alter the clones physical traits, even though the genetic make up of the twins will be identical as it is with natural twins. Even though cloned babies will look alike, one thing that cannot be cloned is personality. This makes sense because even in natural twins, they do not usually have all of the same characteristics; in fact, they are usually opposites in personality. The next closest thing to cloning babies is in-vitro fertilization, also known as test tube babies. This is usually only used when one of the parents is infertile, or when some parents have genetic problems that they do not want to pass on their children. How this works is a woman will begin taking hormones a few weeks before she is scheduled to go for her procedure to make sure the eggs develop properly. She then goes to the doctor where he removes all of the eggs from the woman and keeps them in his laboratory. He will add the sperm into the mixture and watch it for about 2 days, then the woman comes back and had the eggs and the sperm put into her uterus. The chances of becoming pregnant this way are about 4-6 (out of 10), and it is very expensive so most couples can only afford to do it once and hope for the best.