| Abstract |
"Every year hundreds of millions of animals are used in the service of biomedical research, which costs taxpayers and the government billions of dollars. When these experiments are viewed objectively, there can be little doubt that the vast majority of them are extremely cruel to their animal subjects. What exactly are these experiments supposed to achieve from the scientific point of view and, in reality, how effective are they? Working scientists answer these questions by saying that their research is absolutely necessary if we are going to develop new therapies for human diseases. But is this really the case? Many people, including members of the general public and scholars in the humanities, have taken issue with the answers provided by science. Importantly, recent advances that employ new methodologies such as stem cell technology, genetic sequencing, and live human imaging have now rendered animal experimentation obsolete. This book describes exactly how animal research began in antiquity as well as its subsequent historical and cultural development, what it is supposed to achieve, why it fails and what we can expect in the future if we want to invent new therapies for human diseases. The book describes the rapidly developing field of stem cell research and the development of organoid systems that allow experiments to be performed on human tissues rather than animals and how future scientists should be trained in the ethical appreciation of animal lives"-- Provided by publisher. |
