matthearn.com

Saw this quote today:

Ask the experimenters why they experiment on animals, and the answer is: “Because the animals are like us.” Ask the experimenters why it is morally OK to experiment on animals, and the answer is: “Because the animals are not like us.” Animal experimentation rests on a logical contradiction. – Charles R. Magel, professor of philosophy

I can’t say he’s wrong, but here’s my question: what would Professor Magel have scientists experiment on? Hobos? I guess you could say “paid volunteers,” but if you have to test, say, a pediatric cancer treatment, is there a large pool of children whose parents are willing to try a completely untested-on-any-living-creature treatment? I’m not saying we need to scoop the eyeballs out of a chimpanzee and rub lipstick and rouge into the sockets, but I have no problem with medical tests on mice and pigs. Partly because I hate mice (and have been waging a one man, two cat war against them in my new home [the cats are next to useless]) and because perhaps after the tests are done I might be permitted to eat parts of the pigs.