The Rise of Ethical Concern for Animals as a Major Social Phenomenon

Author(s):  
Bernard E. Rollin

The second half of the 20th century represented a major rise in new ethical concerns, including, in the 1970s, the moral status of animals. Until then, analgesia was never used in veterinary medicine, even though many modalities were already known to control pain. This author and others wrote American law that required effective analgesics, which the US Congress mandated in 1985. The research community eventually recognized that failure to control pain in animal research subjects involved not only immoral pain to the animals but also caused invalid research results. Public concern in these areas also spread to farmed animals in intensive agriculture settings, where it was perceived that the profit motive had replaced the husbandry ethic. The increasing number of people owning companion animals also influenced their view of farm animals' moral status and others. The larger number of companion animal owners results from the alienation of human social relations, with animals' replacing the emotional value of human companionship.

1978 ◽  
Vol 28 (111) ◽  
pp. 177
Author(s):  
Mary Midgley ◽  
Stephen R. L. Clark

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. e1965
Author(s):  
Sebastian Giraldo-Ramirez ◽  
Santiago Rendon-Marin ◽  
Julian Ruiz-Saenz

Animals have become an essential member for our society, with roles related to company, human well-being and therapy for some diseases, and as a source of food in many populations around the world. Animals intended for human consumption like pigs and cattle, as well as companion animals, specifically cats and dogs, are constantly threatened by multiple viral agents. This puts at risk pet owners and threatens food security in the region. Considering that control or eradication is a complex problem that involves several aspects, there is a limited success in this regard for viral diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease, rabies and classical or African swine fever, this review aims to show the most important characteristics, in the epidemiological context, from farm animals virus, re-emerging viruses affecting companion animals, and emerging and re-emerging zoonotic viruses. Since viral pathogens affect animal populations and human well-being, there is a need to increase efforts to control, monitor and eradicate them from livestock and companion animals. The following sections contribute to improve the understanding of these viral agents and orchestrate actions of control entities in the Americas.


2019 ◽  
pp. 165-188
Author(s):  
Peter Carruthers

Chapter 7 concluded that there is no fact of the matter concerning phenomenal consciousness in animals, while also arguing that this conclusion is of no importance for science. The present chapter inquires whether it is nevertheless important in other ways, specifically for our ethical treatment of animals, arguing that it is not. But a challenge remains for those who theorize about the moral status of animals: they need to prize the foundations of their theories apart from assumptions about consciousness. The chapter also considers what should be said about the phenomenally conscious status of humans who, like animals, only partially share a full global-broadcasting architecture, such as human infants and people suffering from age-related cognitive impairments.


2007 ◽  
Vol 2007 ◽  
pp. 8-8
Author(s):  
S.M. Williamson ◽  
J.A. Reynolds ◽  
A. Mobasheri ◽  
M.D. Royal ◽  
A. Vaughan-Thomas ◽  
...  

Osteoarthritis (OA) and Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD) are osteoarticular disorders that cause leg weakness, lameness, pain and suffering in companion animals, some farm animals and humans. OA is one of the most common age-related osteoarticular disorders in humans and dogs. In pigs, both OA and OCD are thought to arise from changes in the articular cartilage and growth plates within the synovial joints causing structural damage to joint tissues. Since these changes are not observed in the slow maturing wild boar, they are suggested to be a result of the modern intensive pig production industry which has very successfully selected pigs for rapid growth rates, large muscle mass and efficient feed conversion placing increased weight and mechanical stress on growth plates. The aim of this study was to establish canine and porcine articular cartilage explant models which are essentially tissue culture techniques for isolating and maintaining cartilage tissue ex vivo for subsequent assessment of potentially beneficial effects of specific phytonutrients. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used as a catabolic mediator to create a culture model of joint inflammation mimicking the events that occur in late stages of OA and OCD. We then performed assays to determine if the dietary phytochemical ‘curcumin’ (derived from Curcuma longa) and the polyphenolic phytoalexin stilbene ‘resveratrol’ (found in red grapes, red wine, peanuts and some berries) are able to counteract the catabolic effects of LPS by inhibiting LPS stimulated release of cartilage matrix glycosaminoglycans (GAGs).


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
CAROLYN P. NEUHAUS ◽  
BRENDAN PARENT

Abstract:Gene editors such as CRISPR could be used to create stronger, faster, or more resilient nonhuman animals. This is of keen interest to people who breed, train, race, and profit off the millions of animals used in sport that contribute billions of dollars to legal and illegal economies across the globe. People have tried for millennia to perfect sport animals; CRISPR proposes to do in one generation what might have taken decades previously. Moreover, gene editing may facilitate enhancing animals’ capacities beyond their typical limits. This paper describes the state of animal use and engineering for sport, examines the moral status of animals, and analyzes current and future ethical issues at the intersection of animal use, gene editing, and sports. We argue that animal sport enthusiasts and animal welfarists alike should be concerned about the inevitable use of CRISPR in sport animals. Though in principle CRISPR could be used to improve sport animals’ well-being, we think it is unlikely in practice to do so.


BioScience ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 69 (10) ◽  
pp. 778-788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine E Webb ◽  
Peter Woodford ◽  
Elise Huchard

Abstract Animal ethics—the field of philosophy concerned with the moral status of animals—is experiencing a momentum unprecedented in its history. Surprisingly, animal behavior science remains on the sidelines, despite producing critical evidence on which many arguments in animal ethics rest. In the present article, we explore the origins of the divide between animal behavior science and animal ethics before considering whether behavioral scientists should concern themselves with it. We finally envision tangible steps that could be taken to bridge the gap, encouraging scientists to be aware of, and to more actively engage with, an ethical revolution that is partly fueled by the evidence they generate.


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