Ethical Considerations for the Use of Great Apes in Research
The debate over the use of chimpanzees and other great apes in biomedical research raises complex ethical questions, touching on issues such as their role in hepatitis C research, language abilities, and moral status. Ethicists explore the obligations we have towards animals and the conditions that may give rise to these obligations. Considerations include severity of suffering, probable outcomes, balances, and the specific species involved. Overall, the discussion underscores the need to carefully navigate the intersection of scientific pursuits and animal welfare.
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WE SHOULD PROHIBIT THE USE OF CHIMPANZEES AND OTHER GREAT APES IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH Jean Kazez
MODELS FOR HUMANS Case study: July 2010, the fate of 200 chimpanzees living on the Holloman Air Force base in Alamogordo, New Mexico, became a topic of heated US debate
HEPATITIS C RESEARCH Apes are not natural carriers of hepatitis C, which spreads between humans primarily by blood transfusion and when drug abusers share needles. But they can be infected appear to be the only nonhuman species that can be infected
APES, ART, TREES We could raise more money for AIDS and hepatitis C research by selling off the treasures of the National Gallery, but nobody thinks we should do that. Highway engineers know that by reducing speed limits, thousands of highway fatalities could be prevented. Yet few believe the trees must be cut down and the speed limits reduced.
Chimpanzees can be rudimentary languages. have awareness future species. taught sign a stronger of than the other We chimpanzees for all of the above reasons, but also because they are an endangered species. care about
THE MORAL STATUS OF ANIMALS Apes can suffer; they have preferences. There incompatibility between protecting apes because of their value to us and because we have duties to them directly. is no
Ethicists who hold that animals have rights in a minimal sense think there are conditions in an animal (like pain) that give rise obligations that are owed directly to the animal. to obligations in us, Ethicists who think animals have rights in a stronger sense have in mind what are often referred to as human rights
OUR OBLIGATIONS TO ANIMALS The general idea is that as long as we are aiming at legitimate goals, there is no problem with what we are doing to animals. At most, there are problems with how. Incoherent division between what we do stage and how we do stage. Our thinking about the obligations we have to animals should considere four issues: - Severity of suffering; - Probable outcome; - Balance; - Subject species.
ANUTILITARIANARGUMENT? A utilitarian would say that an experiment on animals is permissible just in case it produces the greatest possible balance of benefits over costs. The main difference lies in the question of BALANCE. Instead of adopting a set of moral criteria close to utilitarianism, would it make more sense to extend full rights to apes?
RIGHTSFORAPES Argument for Marginal Cases (AMC) humans can have robust moral rights even if they are not well endowed with the capacities we prize most highly. A very different sort of arguments for the rights of apes takes a direct approach, first explaining what gives rise to basic rights in typical, adult human beings, and leaving children and people with impairments out of the picture. the focus is on attributes as autonomy, self-awareness, rationality and morality.
THEGREATAPESARESPECIAL Chimpanzees share biological, physiological, behavioral, and social characteristics with humans, and these commonalities may make chimpanzees a unique model for use in research this is also the source of ethical concern that are as prominent when considering the use of other species in research (NRC, 2011)
WHENISBIOMEDICALRESEARCH INVOLVINGCHIMPANZEESNECESSARY? There is no other suitable model available, such as in vitro, non-human in vivo, or other models, for the research in question; The research in question cannot be performed ethically on human subjects; Chimpanzees are necessary to accelerate prevention, control, and/or treatment threatening or debilitating conditions. Regulations on what is done, more than on how it is done. They clarified that necessary (and so permissible) research must be done on animals maintained in an ethologically appropriate environment or in natural habitats. (NRC, 2011) of potentially life- physical and social
Currently, a decreasing scientific need for chimpanzee studies due to the emergence of nonchimpanzee models and technologies have been found. These represent progress, but is it enough? It is inconsistent with our values to keep using our closest relatives as models of humand disease. developments nonhuman
