It's simply incredible, inane, but true that the U.S. Animal Welfare Act (AWA) still claims mice and rats aren't animals. Where are all the scientists who know that they are sentient beings? Why aren't they protesting?
MARC BEKOFF: ‘Many people are asking about the use of nonhuman animal models—simply referred to as “animal models”—as they relate to the pandemic coronavirus, other diseases, and where future research should focus. These are incredibly important questions because existing animal models haven’t worked very well, and it’s highly unlikely that this is going to be the last pandemic we and future generations will see as long as we inhabit our magnificent planet.
Two recent essays and an excellent TEDx talk, all available for free online, are essential sources for pondering these and other questions and for generating much-needed discussions, not only by researchers but also by every single human being who resides on Earth. Here are a few snippets to motivate people to read these easy-to-read pieces and to watch the short TEDx talk. They could be life-changing in many different ways.
The first piece by Eric Boodman called “From ferrets to mice and marmosets, labs scramble to find the right animals for coronavirus studies” clearly shows the state of disarray concerning animal models of COVID-19. Researchers are indeed scrambling, and his piece doesn’t offer much hope for meaningful success…
The second essay by Ewen Callaway is titled “Labs rush to study coronavirus in transgenic animals—some are in short supply.” Dr. Stanley Perlman, a coronavirologist at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, is quoted as follows: “Animals that develop only mild infections could be useful for testing drugs and vaccines, but they might not help scientists understand more severe cases,” says Perlman. “It doesn’t really tell you much about how the virus causes disease”…
The outstanding TEDx talk to which I refer is called “It’s Time to Think Outside the Cage” by biochemist and molecular biologist Dr. Charu Chandrasekera, “The founding executive director of Canada’s first and only research centre dedicated exclusively to alternatives to animal testing—Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods (CCAAM)”…
The global nature of the coronavirus is a perfect time to revisit animal models, the above essays (along with many others), and the highly informative TEDx talk. They clearly show that many researchers are, and have been for some time, grabbing at straws and hoping to find cures for a number of serious diseases…
It’s simply incredible, inane, but nonetheless true that the U.S. Federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) still claims mice and rats aren’t animals. Where are all the scientists who know that rats and mice are sentient animal beings? Why aren’t they protesting the idiocy of the AWA? Try explaining to a youngster, a student studying biology, or to people who look to science for guidance that rats, mice, and some other animals aren’t animals…
Suffice it to say, these are very challenging times, and there are numerous issues to which we need to pay serious and deep attention concerning our relationships with other animals, our relationships with other humans all over the planet, and how we can better their lives and our own. I look forward to more wide-ranging discussions among everyone who is concerned about these and other issues because we simply can’t continue to let others do the thinking and acting for us’. SOURCE…
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