PHIL 7570
CASE STUDIES IN RESEARCH ETHICS

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Research with nonhuman animals raises a number of ethical issues which result inheated public debates. Regardless of one's position on the necessity of animal research, the welfare of animal subjects is still closely regulated. This session will discuss both sides of the ethical issue, as well as current oversight procedures of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), as well as other policies relevant to animal research.

Required Reading:

• ORI Text: Chapter 4 (pp. 51-63); free download at ORI.

• Article: Politics, Culture, and the Lab. By Anne Marie Borrego. The Chronicle of Higher Education. March 11, 2005. Public attitudes toward animals and human embryonic stem cells have fostered different research agendas in Britain and the United States. (See articles below by Nussbaum and by Smallwood for different perspectives.)

• Case Studies: Animal Subjects (pdf)

Other Links:

• Policies of Interest
  • University of Utah Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)
  • National Association for Biomedical Research
  • NIH Policies: Office of Animal Care and Use

• The Moral Status of Animals. By Martha Nussbaum. The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 3, 2006. (B6-B8)

• Undercover Among the Cages. By Jeffery Brainard. The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 3, 2006. An activist group's hidden-camera investigation at Chapel Hill raises issues about colleges' oversight of animal welfare.

• Speaking for the Animals, or the Terrorists. By Scott Smallwood. The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 5, 2005. An interesting article on the justifications for activist groups such as PETA, and whether they should be considered terrorists.

• FDA urged to assess cloned animals like drugs. New In Brief, Nature 443, 736-737(19 October 2006).

• Ethics and Refinement in Animal Research. (pdf) Letter to Science , September 21, 2007.

• Rise in animal testing in New Zealand. From One News ( tvnz.co.nz), September 11, 2007. See also Animal testing figures shock Greens, from newstalkzb.co.nz, September 11, 2007.

• Endangered by Research. Poachers mine the scientific literature for the locations of newly discovered animals. The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 21, 2007.

• Dogs and Morality. The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 6, 2005. A brief "letter" to The Chronicle arguing arguing that research on canines is a "kind of scientific animal torture [that] is incompatible with morality."

• 'Making Mice: Standardizing Animals for American Biomedical Research, 1900-1955'. In the Chronicle of Higher Education, April 23, 2004.

• In Defense of Animal Research. Opinion: The use of animals in laboratory research needs championing more than ever. Those defending it need to reflect discussions within the research community and engage positively with issues of public concern. In Nature, 407, 659, October 12, 2000.

• Animal Research in Psychology: More Than Meets the Eye of the General Psychology Student. By Michael Domjan and Jesse E. Purdy. In American Psychologist, July 1995, pp. 496-503. An overview of textbook discussions of the use of animals in research. The authors find that science education doesn't do enough to inform students about the use of animals in research

• Prof. Benham's PPT (TBA)