Ethics of Research involving animals
Summary
3.78 This chapter has aimed to lay out the critical elements of the current moral debate. We have argued that the following questions must be considered:
i) The debate is not best characterised in terms of the relative moral status of humans and animals but in terms of what features of humans and animals are of moral concern, in the sense of making certain forms of treatment morally problematic.
ii) Once those features are identified, the question needs to be asked as to how they should be taken into account in moral reasoning. Are they factors to be weighed against others, or do they function as absolute prohibitions?
iii) Finally, what does it mean to be a moral agent? How should moral agency be considered in the regulatory framework that governs animal research?
In general, we have not attempted to provide answers to these questions at this stage. We invite readers to reflect upon the discussion and examples provided in the following chapters in an unbiased way, and in the light of their own conclusions thus far. We present the conclusions of the Working Party in Chapters 14 and 15.
Footnotes31 In addition to positively influencing moral agency, arguments in favour of regulation would be that it can (a) promote
consistency; (b) enhance accountability; (c) act as a counter to commercial pressures; (d) reflect society’s collective morality;
and (e) promote legitimacy. We return to some of these elements in Chapters 14 and 15, see paragraphs 14.53–14.63, 15.14-
–15.15 and 15.53.