I heartily recommend Animal Research and Human Health to anyone struggling understand the minds and motivations of those engaged in animal experimentation. The editors offer twenty-two essays that they claim are evidence that we need such research.The editors, Marilyn Carroll and Bruce Overmier, are both well known to the antivisectionist community. Overmier is famous for his learned helplessness studies on dogs involving uncontrollable repeated electroshock. Carroll is well known for her cocaine and PCP (angel dust) experiments on monkeys; Carroll has been the focus of many animal rights and anticruelty demonstrations at the University of Minnesota. It makes sense that these two scientists would have a certain admiration for each other.
Carroll and Overmier offer their opinions in an introductory essay that suggests that they are both reasonable and thoughtful. They briefly discuss the various rationales for using animals: biblical, dualistic, evolutionary, and utilitarian, and say that:
"...with increasing knowledge we discover unexpectedly more and greater similarities than previously known between humans and animals. At that point, we may begin to limit the kinds of research we undertake with some species of animals (and current regulations for research reflect this)." (p.10)
Such a claim must be intended to soothe the reader's concerns or perhaps Carroll and Overmier are simply less than honest even with themselves. Those familiar with animal research regulations will likely scratch their heads and wonder at the claim that some species cannot be used in some types of studies. No such regulations exist outside the minds of Carroll and Overmier.
The editors' true colors show up late in the book. They rail:
"Those who argue against the use of laboratory animals in research label themselves 'animal rights activists' but, given their behaviors, we scientists believe they may fairly be viewed as 'antiresearch activists'... The antiresearch activists strive to turn logic on its head and give equal value to animals and humans." (p. 339)
The main essays are less vitriolic. The essays' authors strive to show the connections between animal research and human health. Klaus A. Miczek's essay, Aggression and Violence (Chapter 4), makes the case with a claim that seems to comport with the notion that animal researchers are a schizophrenic bunch. He says, "A curious fascination with killing pervades [history]... continues into the present such as with organized sports ('blood sports'), ritualized foraging (sport fishing and hunting), entertainment by staging and watching people and animals killing each other,... (human and animal sacrifice), ... 'mercy' killing, and public executions. The determinants of the different kinds of killing behavior have eluded precise analysis, because... most researchers are repulsed." (p. 58) The claim that animal researchers are repulsed by killing must count as among the tallest of all tales, but his point is that, if they could get over their distaste, we might find the root cause of humanity's love of killing by watching animals kill each other.
In another essay, Marijuana and Dependence (Chapter 8, A.J. Budney and J. Wiley), the authors lament the fact that DSM-IV, the diagnostic authority of the American Psychiatric Association, notes that marijuana withdrawal symptoms have not been shown to be clinically significant. The authors feel that this is a problem well worth the lives and well-being of various animals. They document the synthesis of a chemical named SR141716A thought to block some of the receptors for THC (the active compound in marijuana) in the brain.
After intravenous injections of THC, followed by intravenously administered SR141716A, dogs and rats exhibit "scratching, 'wet-dog shakes,' licking, and muscle spasms." In dogs, the procedure additionally causes "decreased social interaction, increased restlessness, and elicited uncharacteristic circling." (p. 120). Budney and Wiley claim that this proves that marijuana withdrawal can be demonstrated and hope that the use of monkeys and knockout mice will someday be used to finally prove that marijuana is dangerous.
All in all, those seeking to understand the minds and motivations of those who experiment on animals will find this text worthwhile. Those who seek to justify any and all uses of animals will undoubtedly cite the text in their appeal to authority.
