Animal Testing and Ethical concerns

Ethical issues in the medical world

Using animals as Test subjects - Save Ralph!

Poll

Have you ever conducted experiments in science class using living animals?

• Yes

• No

Poll

Have you ever dissected an animal in science class?

• Yes

• No

Poll

Do you own a pet?

Do you think it/he/she experiences pain in the same way we do?

• Yes

• No

Word Cloud

What do you think is the main difference between animals and humans?

Poll

Do animals have emotions?

• Yes

• No

Poll

Do you think animals have, or should have, rights the way humans do?

• Yes

• No

Word Cloud

Look at the picture above. Write down the first 2 words that come to mind

Open Ended

What prompted your negative reactions?

Open Ended

Whole Foods supermarket chain stopped selling live lobsters in 2006.

Any idea why?

​PETA: “Lobsters are known to live more than 145 years in the ocean and can travel more than 100 miles per year. Lobsters have sophisticated nervous systems and experience pain and suffering. In their natural ocean homes, they have been observed walking claw-in-claw, the old leading the young.”

PETA: “Lobsters are known to live more than 145 years in the ocean and can

travel more than 100 miles per year. Lobsters have sophisticated nervous

systems and experience pain and suffering. In their natural ocean homes, they

have been observed walking claw-in-claw, the old leading the young.”
PETA = People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)

Some facts...

Invertebrates, such as lobsters and snails (which are also delicious), conveniently (for those of us who love to eat lobsters and snails also feel sympathy for animals) have simple nervous systems made up of chain ganglia—groups of neurons connected by nerve fibers. According to Professor Craig W. Stevens of Oklahoma State University in Tulsa, the chain ganglia network is so simple it doesn’t require a brain.”

Some facts...

Categorize

Options (3)

Lobsters have simple nervous systems that don’t require a brain, so they don’t feel pain.

Lobsters have complex nervous systems and are capable of experiencing pain and suffering.

The treatment of lobsters would warrant felony cruelty to animals if they were dogs

Organise these options into the right categories

For cooking Lobster

Against cooking lobster

Open Ended

If the lobster in the picture above were instead a cat or a chimpanzee, would you feel differently? How and why?

Let’s assume the ability to experience pain could, and should, be used in determining the way we treat animals. Where should we draw the line?

Consider the following list of animals and organise them in your books

Chimpanzee, clam, elephant, octopus, mouse, dog, your pet, goldfish, cow, corals, fly, dolphin, canary, shark, horse, rat, spider.

​

Compare your assumptions with a partner.

What criteria, principles, or assumptions determined your decision
(e g. animals’ behaviour indicates pain, assumptions about nervous system, intuition, degree of similarity to humans, etc.)?

Companies That Do Test on Animals | PETA

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Research activity

Can your selected company stop animal testing?
If so, what alternative should they do?
If not, why is it so important they keep testing on animals?

Open Ended

Can your selected company stop animal testing?

If so, what alternative should they do?
If not, why is it so important they keep testing on animals?