Care, Use, and Welfare of Marmosets as Animal Models for Gene Editing-Based Biomedical Research Proceedings of a Workshop (2019) / Chapter Skim
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3 Ethical Considerations
3 Ethical Considerations
Pages 11-22
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From page 11... ...
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS Adam Shriver, a research fellow at the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics and the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, discussed how an understanding of ethical theories can inform approaches to working with research animals. What Is Ethics?
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From page 12... ...
Keeping these distinctions in mind can greatly help the clarity of ethical debate. Different views on the significance of value concepts, deontic concepts, and moral worth concepts form the basis for the three most prominent types of ethical theory: consequentialism, deontological ethics, and virtue ethics.
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From page 13... ...
Complicating these considerations is the fact that animals cannot speak for themselves, so it is humans who must evaluate animal sentience and higher capabilities. To address this, a commonly accepted idea called the precautionary principle states that the absence of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason to avoid taking steps to prevent potential seriously bad outcomes (Birch 2017)
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Finally, weighing harm to nonhuman animals against benefits to humans requires making judgments about human interests versus nonhuman animal interests, and there is widespread disagreement about how these interests should be weighed against one another. At one end of the spectrum, a view sometimes referred to as lexical superiority holds that human interests always have higher value than nonhuman interests.
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From page 15... ...
. Deontological ethics can also involve looking beyond outcomes and considering the potential for a variety of harms during the process of an animal's care and use, including harms to its dignity, bodily integrity, or autonomy.
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And finally, many virtue ethics supporters would hold that approaches toward animals ought to be consistent across domains of life in order to count as truly ethical behavior. For example, if one claimed to be consequentialist or utilitarian toward animals when discussing research, but did not take into account possible harms to animals in decisions about food choices or purchasing behavior, it would be difficult to claim that the person truly possessed the praiseworthy character trait of showing compassion toward animals.
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AAALAC International (formerly known as the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care International) , which is both voluntary and confidential, merely ensures compliance with existing policies and laws (in the United States these are the Animal Welfare Act; the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals; and the Public Health Service Policy)
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Creating "starter kits" also could help newcomer institutions establish marmoset research with appropriate practices from the beginning. For example, such a kit could describe the recommended minimum number of animals or families, as well as their housing, social, and dietary needs.
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From page 19... ...
It is also difficult to account for surprises, in which basic research investigations uncover unexpected new findings that significantly advance research toward beneficial applications. Conversely, research avenues thought to have great benefits may not pan out as expected.
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Expanding on this idea, other participants added that it would also be valuable for such discussions to include the benefits nimal-based research can yield for animals themselves -- not only a humans -- for example, to enhance veterinary care, improve the welfare of pets, or inform conservation efforts. A participant noted that before discussions about ethics in animal research even become part of the public debate, it is helpful to have more conversations regarding these issues in academic settings and the relative benefits of alternative options, one participant suggested.
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described how the WNPRC hosts K–12 and undergraduate school visits, which expose children to the idea of animal care as a career, enhance science majors' understanding of primate research, and give both audiences a more thorough explanation of the role of animal research in biomedical discovery. By visiting research facilities, the participant noted, students can see for themselves what the research entails, and positive outreach can make a big difference in how the next generation of scientists works with animals.
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1994. The Rejection of Consequentialism: A Philosophical Investigation of the Considerations Underlying Rival Moral Conceptions.
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