Last week The Tablet ran a news story on Vivisection; “Animal experimentation branded unethical”, in which more than 150 intellectuals backed a report calling for animal experimentation to be “de-normalised”. Among them were several leading Catholic academics.
The Catholic Church in the UK once took the lead against vivisection. Cardinals Newman and Manning both spoke out vigorously against animal experimentation. In the 1870s Cardinal Manning and others founded the National Anti Vivisection Society, which is now the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection (BUAV). Cardinal Manning was also influential in convincing the Government of the day to pass the Animal Cruelty Act of 1876, which introduced vivisection regulation by the Government.
However, I am sure that if either Cardinal Newman or Cardinal Manning were alive today then they would be appalled by the modern vivisection "industry".
The current use of experimentation on animals is indefensible, as the majority of experiments are not only cruel but also worthless. It is estimated by BUAV – and the intellectuals’ letter cites this – that more than 115 million animals a year are used and killed in the name of science. There is little scientific evidence that these experiments actually lead to human medical advancement, and according to BUAV, 9 out of 10 of these experiments fail to produce anything of use. It is debatable that tests carried on animals will produce results that show how humans would respond.
Most experiments are not even to do with medical research; some testing is carried out for products such as household cleaning fluids and cosmetics, though the latter has been banned in the UK. Millions of animals are abused and tortured in experiments every year and these experiments are carried out in laboratories far away from the public gaze and scrutiny. Labs in the UK, which are supposed to conform to high standards, are shown to fail time and time again. Many so-called respectable institutions have been investigated by Government for breaches of standards – these institutions include Imperial College, London and Wickham Research laboratories. If such supposed “high quality” institutions are failing the most basic checks, what is happening in less renowned institutions?
Whichever political party wins the keys to No 10 Downing Street on 7 May, I would hope that they take the issue of animal welfare seriously and in particular look again at the whole issue of animal experimentation in the UK. For too long now has this disgraceful industry been allowed to go on unchecked and insufficiently scrutinised. If what occurs in these laboratories was known to the general public, there would be an outcry.
Catholics everywhere should protest about the cruelty bestowed on animals, which are an intrinsic part of God’s creation.
Catholic Concern for Animals stands foursquare with Cardinal Manning and Cardinal Newman on this issue and indeed urges our current Catholic Church leaders both in the UK and abroad to do likewise.
Chris Fegan is the General Secretary of Catholic Concern for Animals
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Unfortunately, most people get their values from religion, and the concept of religion is inherently antithetical to animal dignity and is a device repeatedly used to harm and devalue them. Every time I hear the phrase "the sanctity of HUMAN life," I'm reminded of its corollary, "the INsanctity of nonhuman life." Every time I hear "each and every HUMAN life has absolute value," I'm reminded of its corollary, "and nonhuman life has ABSOLUTELY no value." Think of the murder of Cecil, the African lion. Are nonhuman animals TROPHIES? Are they "things" (as Jesuit priest and philosopher Joseph Rickaby called them ("brute beasts").
In “Catholic Exemplars: Recent Popes, Medieval Saints, and Animal Liberation,” Philosophy professor Judith Barad premises Aquinas as an “exemplar” because he concluded that animals and plants have souls, although they are not the same as human souls; he also acknowledge that animals have feelings. To counter such a depiction of Aquinas who helped embed speciesism more deeply into Catholicism than it had been before, Aquinas declared “by divine province that non-rational beings should serve the higher species.” Aquinas regarded animals as non-rational, an idea that in turn influenced centuries of Christian thought. FALSE!
It is like my father always said: If their are abortions, what's a animal? How true! The 'key' to all these unneccessary experiments is simply MONEY. All these places know they are useless--it is greed and pride--promised money-- and they do not care. My father also said very intelligent college people lacked common sense when he was in college many years ago. God help us--the world is going crazy. That is why some of these experiments are done on ships far from land. They think they are smart. I wish the animals could do this on them and see how they would like the pain. Pray everyone.