Title: The politics and ethics of animal experimentation

Authors: Elisa Aaltola

Addresses: Department of Philosophy, FI-20014 University of Turku, Finland

Abstract: Animal experimentation has provoked debate since its establishment, in the modern sense. Recent years have seen a culmination of the debate. Animal rights campaigners have used direct action in order to stop experimentation, and both the industry and the government have replied through toughening security and implementing legislative changes. The main issue is ethics: can we, and on what grounds, use animals in experimentation? Unfortunately, the analyses of this question often remain fragmented, as only one aspect (such as gained benefits) is taken into account. Moreover, the politics of experimentation affect and obscure the ethical issues. The motive of this paper is to both analyse the ethics of experimentation through different perspectives, and to take into account the political elements that have affected the ethical debate.

Keywords: activism; animal ethics; animal experimentation; animal research; animal rights; animal welfare; bioethics; bio-industry; pharmaceuticals; vivisection; politics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBT.2005.007628

International Journal of Biotechnology, 2005 Vol.7 No.4, pp.234 - 249

Published online: 21 Aug 2005 *

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