Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat

by Hal Herzog

  According to Rick Woychik This quote is taken from a Jackson Laboratory promotional video (www.jax.org/).

  Carl Cohen, a University of Michigan philosopher Cohen, C. (1987). The case for the use of animals in biomedical research. New England Journal of Medicine, 315, 865–870. (p. 868). For an extended defense of animal research by a prominent neuroscientist, see Morrison, A. R. (2009). An odyssey with animals: A veterinarian’s reflections on the animal rights and welfare debate. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

  treatments for the neglected tropical diseases The fact is that the big pharmaceutical companies spend far less on research aimed at discovering new drugs than they do on marketing and on tweaking the molecular structure of blockbuster drugs that are on the verge of going generic. See Angel, M. (2005). The truth about drug companies: How they deceive us and what to do about it. New York: Random House.

  They say scientists have exaggerated the contributions of animal research For an example of this point of view see Greek, R., & Greek, J. (2000). Sacred cows and golden geese: The human cost of experiments on animals. New York: Continuum. Barnard, N. D., & Kaufman, S. (February 1997). Animal research is wasteful and misleading. Scientific American, 80–82; and LaFollette, H., & Shanks, N. (1996). Brute science: Dilemmas of animal experimentation. London: Routledge.

  Researchers in Portland, Edmonton, and Albany ran eight strains of mice This research was originally reported in Crabbe, J. C., Wahlsten, D., & Dudek, B. C. (1999). Genetics of mouse behavior: Interactions with laboratory environment. Science, 284, 1670–1672. For a fascinating discussion of possible explanations of these findings, see Sapolsky, R. M. (2006). Monkeyluv: And other essays on our lives as animals. New York: Scribner.

  how much we can generalize from mice to humans For additional articles in reputable journals questioning the rodent models, see Giles, J. (2006). Animal experiments under fire for poor design. Nature, 444(7122), 981; Pound, P., Ebrahim, S., Sandercock, P., Bracken, M. B., & Roberts, I. (2004). Where is the evidence that animal research benefits humans? British Medical Journal, 328(7438), 514–517.

  Writing in the journal Immunology Davis, M. M. (2008). A prescription for human immunology. Immunology, 29(6), 835–838.

  drug that worked in four mouse studies made people with ALS sicker Schnabel, J. (2008). Neuroscience: Standard model. Nature, 454(7205), 682–685.

  A survey conducted in England Aldhous, P., Coghlan, A., & Copley, J. (1999). Animal experiments—where do you draw the line? Let the people speak. New Scientist, 162(2187), 26–31.

  the proliferation of surplus mice See Critser, G. (December 2007) Of mice and men, Harpers Magazine, 65–76. Ormandy, E., Schuppli, C. A., & Weary, D. M. (2009). Worldwide trends in the use of animals in research: The contribution of genetically-modified animal models. ATLA, 37, 63–68. Rowan, A. (2007). A brief history of the animal research debate and the place of alternatives. AATEX, 12(3), 203–211.

  according to Congress, lab mice in the United States are not animals The Animal Welfare Act excludes mice, rats, and birds that are bred specifically for use in research. Wild mice, rats, and birds, however, are covered under the AWA because they are not laboratory bred. Thus, mice and birds that are trapped in nature and brought into a lab would be covered under the AWA. However, if the wild-caught animals were used to start a breeding colony, their offspring would be exempt from coverage under the act.

  Judge Richey called the mouse/rat/bird exclusion The mouse/rat/bird exclusion was originally the result of a loophole in the law that left it up to the secretary of agriculture to determine what an animal is. In 1993, Judge Ritchie ruled that the exclusion was arbitrary and capricious. However, his decision was overturned by a higher court. At the request of biotechnology interests, Senator Jesse Helms inserted last-minute language into the 2002 Farm Bill, which made the exclusion a permanent part of the Act. For a history of this legislation, see Carbone, L. (2004). What animals want: Expertise and advocacy in laboratory animal welfare policy. New York: Oxford University Press.

  exempt from the regulations Note that birds, rats, and mice intended for research in institutions that receive funding from the National Institutes of Health are covered under the Public Health Service’s Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, a separate set of government animal care regulations. However, mice in an estimated 800 research facilities are not covered under any federal regulations.

  Dogs, in contrast, are singled out for special treatment Primates are also given special treatment. The Animal Welfare Act specifies that research facilities must look after the “psychological well-being” of monkeys and apes.

  Larry puts the number at well over 100 million See Carbone, L. (2004). What animals want: Expertise and advocacy in laboratory animal welfare policy. New York: Oxford University Press; Taylor, K., Gordon, N., Langley, G., & Higgins, W. (2008). Estimates of worldwide laboratory animal use in 2005. ATLA, 36, 327–342. The estimate of 100 million mice comes from Larry Carbone who estimates that between 100 and 200 times as many mice as rats are now used in research.

  Our statistical analysis indicated These results were reported in Plous, S., & Herzog, H. (2001). Reliability of protocol reviews for animal research. Science, 293(5530), 608–609. Responses to the article and our rejoinder can be found in Science (2001) 294, 1831–1832.

  In his novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Pirsig, R. (1974). Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance. New York: William Morrow. (p. 185).

  imitate actions and vocalizations Wise, S. M. (2002). Drawing the line: Science and the case for animal rights. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books. (p. 157).

  capable of empathy Langford, D. J., Crager, S. E., Shehzad, Z., Smith, S. B., Sotocinal, S. G., Levenstadt, J. S., et al. (2006). Social modulation of pain as evidence for empathy in mice. Science, 312(5782), 1967–1970.

  if I have calculated correctly, over 800 mice It is difficult to actually figure out how many total animals were used in the experiments from research reports that appeared in Science. In addition to the published article, there were thirty additional pages of supplementary materials published online describing the details of the experiment.

  Marc Bekoff is an eminent ethologist Marc made this statement in a speech to the Farm Sanctuary Hoe Down (www.farmsanctuary.org) in Orland, California, on May 16, 2009. You can see his lecture at www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ9lq97RQ6U.

  the Nazi medical experiments For discussions of the ethics of using the Nazi medical data see Moe, K. (December 1984). Should the Nazi research data be cited? Hastings Center Report, 5–7; and Cohen, B. (1990). The ethics of using medical data from Nazi experiments. Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, 19, 103–126.

  experiments on animals are also ill-gotten gains See, for example, Regan, T. (1993). Ill gotten gains. In P. Cavalieri & P. Singer (eds.), The great ape project. (pp. 194–205). New York: St. Martin’s Press.

  Joan Dunayer Dunayer, J. (2004). Speciesism. Derwood, MD: Ryce Publishing. (p. 134).

  Jonathan Haidt Haidt, J. (2006). The happiness hypothesis: Finding modern truth in ancient wisdom. New York: Basic Books.

  Killing animals so you can toss their bodies Byrne’s quote appears in Murphy, K. (June 13, 2009). Seattle’s Pike Place fishmongers under fire. Los Angeles Times.

  The Powerful Bond between People and Pets Anderson, P. E. (2008). The powerful bond between people and pets: Our boundless connections to companion animals. Westport, CT: Praeger. (p. 214).

  70% of animal activists Plous, S. (1991). An attitude survey of animal rights activists. Psychological Science, 2(3), 194–196.

  an article by an ethicist named Mylan Engel Engel, M. (2000). The immorality of eating meat. In L. P. Pojman (ed.), The moral life: An introductory reader in ethics and literature (pp. 856–889). New York: Oxford University Press.

  “non-attitudes” or “vacuous attitudes.” For more information on public opinion and attitudes toward the use of animals, see Herzog, H., Rowan, A., & Kossow, D. (2001). Soc
ial attitudes and animals. In A. N. Rowan & D. J. Salem (eds.), The state of the animals (pp. 55–69). Washington, DC: Humane Society Press.

  the majority of Americans do not get lathered up The data in this paragraph are from a report by the Humane Research Council (March 2004), Understanding the public image of the U. S. animal protection movement.

  “psychic numbing.” Slovic, P. (2007). “If I look at the mass I will never act”: Psychic numbing and genocide. Judgment and Decision Making, 2(2), 79–95.

  single red-tailed hawk from his nest Kristof, N. (May 10, 2007). Save the Darfur puppy. New York Times.

  a series of interviews with animal activists The results of this study of animal activists are reported in Herzog, H. A. (1993). “The movement is my life”: The psychology of animal rights activism. Journal of Social Issues, 49, 103–119. For additional sociological and psychological research on the animal rights movement, see Herzog, H. A. (1998). Understanding animal activism. In L. Hart (ed.), Responsible conduct with animals in research. New York: Oxford University Press. Groves, J. M. (1997). Hearts and minds: The controversy of laboratory animals. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press. Jamison, W. V., & Lunch, W. M. (1992). Rights of animals, perceptions of science, and political activism: Profile of American animal rights activists. Science, Technology & Human Values, 17(4), 438–458. Plous, S. (1991). An attitude survey of animal rights activists. Psychological Science, 2(3), 194–196. Lowe, B. M. (2006). Emerging moral vocabularies: The creation and establishment of new forms of moral and ethical meanings. Oxford, UK: Lexington Books.

  most common thread is moral shock. The connection between moral shock and social activism was first developed by Jasper, J. M., & Poulsen, J. D. (1995). Recruiting strangers and friends: Moral shocks and social networks in animal rights and anti-nuclear protests. Social Problems, 42(4), 493–512.

  animal rights activists are not very religious Herzog, H. (1998). For more information on the parallels between the animal rights movement and religion see Herzog, H. A. (1993). “The movement is my life”: The psychology of animal rights activism. Journal of Social Issues, 49, 103–119. Jamison, W. V., Wenk, C., & Parker, J. V. (2000). Every sparrow that falls: Understanding animal rights activism as functional religion. Society and Animals, 8(3), 305–330. Lowe, B. M. (2006). Emerging moral vocabularies: The creation and establishment of new forms of moral and ethical meanings. Oxford, UK: Lexington Books.

  differences in people’s ethical ideologies Galvin, S. L., & Herzog, H. A. (1992). Ethical ideology, animal rights activism, and attitudes toward the treatment of animals. Ethics & Behavior, 2(3), 141–149.

  vegan-friendly condoms Vegan-friendly condoms as well as other interesting cruelty-free “intimacy products” are available at the online Vegan Store (veganstore.com/).

  reserve the term “terrorist” For the moral logic behind “direct action” from an extremist point of view see the essays in Best, S., & Nocella, A. J. (eds.). (2004). Terrorists or freedom fighters: Reflections on the liberation of animals. New York: Lantern Books.

  David Jentsch fought back See Ringach, D. R., & Jentsch, J. D. (2009). We must face the threats. Journal of Neuroscience, 29, 11417–11418.

  the thinking of a dozen kinds of militant extremists For discussions of the psychology of moral crusaders and terrorism, see Jasper, J. M. (1998). The emotions of protest: Affective and reactive emotions in and around social movements. Sociological Forum, 13(3) 397–424. Baumeister, R. F. (1999). Evil: Inside human violence and cruelty. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC. Saucier, G., Akers, L. G., Shen-Miller, S., Knezevic, G., & Stankov, L. (2009). Patterns of thinking in militant extremism. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(3), 256–271.

  Vlasak told an Australian television reporter Best, S. (May 3, 2009). Who’s afraid of Jerry Vlasak? Retrieved from civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2009/05/photo-and-caption-courtesy-of-guardian.html

  the FBI downplayed right-wing terrorist activities See, for example, Dean, G. (August 31, 2006). A terrorist under every Bush? American Chronicle. Retrieved from www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/13047.

  the species they work with Anti-vivisectionists have concentrated their efforts on pets and primates for decades. It was an image of a dog used in research published in a 1966 Life magazine article that led to the passage of the first federal regulations governing animal research, and the harassment of researchers by modern animal rights activists really began in 1976 with the targeting of researcher named Lester Aronson who was conducting experiments on cats. PETA grew out of a campaign in the 1980s to close down the lab of Edward Taub, a psychologist conducting experiments on monkeys. See Morrison, A. R. (2009). An odyssey with animals: A veterinarian’s reflections on the animal rights and welfare debate. New York: Oxford University Press.; Guillermo, K. S. (1993). Monkey business. Washington, DC: National Press Books.; and Blum, D. (1995). The monkey wars. New York: Oxford University Press.

  Department of Homeland Security report Department of Homeland Security (2009) Ecoterrorism: Environmental and animal rights militants in the United States.

  the ethical theories on which the modern animal liberation movement is based For a brief introduction to the argument for giving rights to animals see Sunstein, C. (2002). The rights of animals: A very short primer. John M. Olin Law & Economics Working Paper No. 157. Retrieved from papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? abstract_id=323661.

  his 1975 book Animal Liberation If you wanted to read one book to understand the case for animal liberation, this is it. However, for a more nuanced explanation of Singer’s views, see Singer, P. (1993). Practical ethics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

  The core of this book Singer, P. (1975) Animal liberation. New York: Avon Books.

  legal standing for great apes See Cavalieri, P., & Singer, P. (1993). The great ape project: Equality beyond humanity. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin.

  the dog goes overboard The lifeboat case is described in Regan, T. (1983). The case for animal rights. Berkeley: University of California Press. (p. 324).

  Joan Dunayer, author of the book Speciesism Dunayer, J. (2004). Speciesism. Derwood, MD: Ryce Publishing.

  insects don’t suffer much, he says Singer mentioned his views on the moral status of insects in a conversation with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. Kristof, N. (April 9, 2009). Humanity even for non-humans. New York Times.

  Singer’s disrespect for chickens Dunayer, J. (March–May 2002). Letter to the editor. Vegan Voice. (p. 16–17).

  treated equally Singer argues that all sentient creatures deserve equal moral consideration, not equal treatment. For example, he does not believe that chimps or dogs should have the right to vote or drive.

  Inner Lawyer The idea that we all have an Inner Lawyer comes from Jonathan Haidt (2007).

  The neuroscientist Joshua Greene Greene, J. D., Nystrom, L. E., Engell, A. D., Darley, J. M., & Cohen, J. D. (2004). The neural bases of cognitive conflict and control in moral judgment. Neuron, 44(2), 389–400.

  “predictably irrational.” For an excellent introduction to behavioral economics see Ariely, D. (2008). Predictably irrational: The hidden forces that shape our decisions. New York: Harper Press.

  dozens of types of bias See, for example, Lilienfeld, S. O., Ammirati, R., & Landfield, K. (2009). Giving debiasing away: Can psychological research on correcting cognitive errors promote human welfare? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(4), 390–398.

  In his lifeboat scenario For a more extensive discussion of “four guys and a dog in lifeboat” see Franklin, J. H. (2006). Animal rights and moral philosophy. New York: Columbia University Press.

  permissible to euthanize a permanently disabled infant This argument is made on page 186 of Singer, P. (1993). Practical ethics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. For a dated but fascinating profile of Singer, see Specter, M. (September 6, 1999). The dangerous philosopher. The New Yorker.

  sexual interactions between humans and animals Singer’s essay
on bestiality is at Singer, P. (2001). Heavy petting. Nerve.com. Retrieved from www.nerve.com/Opinions/Singer/heavyPetting/. Singer was a guest on the Comedy Central television show The Colbert Report in December 2006. At the end of an interview that focused on the moral status of apes, Stephen Colbert dropped a question out of left field: “How about sex with animals? Is that OK with you?” Singer did not bat an eyelash. True to his beliefs that the morality of an act should be decided on the basis of whether it increases pleasure or decreases pain, Singer replied, “I’m not in favor of people having sex with animals. I think it is a lot more fun to have sex with other people.”

  deep motivator for moral reflection and development This quote is from an email to me from Chris Diehm.

  John le Carré le Carré, J. (2008). A most wanted man. New York: Scribner (p. 121).

  Best Friends For the story of Best Friends see Glen, S. (2001) Best friends: The true story of the world’s most beloved animal sanctuary. New York: Kensington Books.

  Kwame Anthony Appiah Appiah, K. A. (2008). Experiments in ethics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (p. 199).

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  My deep gratitude to the many animal people, from activists to zoologists, who have let me peer into their worlds and answered my naïve questions about their connections with other species.

  Among the individuals who provided feedback on sections of the book are Jonathan Balcombe, Mihaly Bartalos, Marc Bekoff, Alex Bentley, Candace Boan-Lenzo, Leo Bobadilla, Larry Carbone, Merritt Clifton, Jane Coburn, Chris Coburn, Karen Davis, Judy DeLoache, Bev Dugan, Leah Gomez, John Goodwin, Sam Gosling, Che Green, Joshua Greene, Katherine Grier, Liz Hodge, Leslie Irvine, Wes Jamison, Rebecca Johnson, Sarah Knight, Kathy Kruger, Laura Maloney, Lori Marino, Ádám Miklósi, Michael Mountain, Jim Murray, David Nieman, Emily Patterson-Kane, Scott Plous, Andrew Rowan, Kathy Rudy, Boria Sax, Ken Shapiro, Michael Schafer, Harriet Shields, Jeff Spooner, Craig Stanford, Samantha Strazanac, Mickey Randolph, Lee Warren, Erin Williams, Richard Wrangham, Steven Wise, Clive Wynne, and Steve Zawistowski. Morgan Childers, Sue Grider, and the staff of the Hunter Library at Western Carolina University came to the rescue in terms of references and manuscript preparation.