Ethics Midterm Studying

Rene Decartes

Animals are not conscious because they lack language and reason. Without language and reason, animals cannot experience pain or pleasure.

“I think, therefore I exist”/ Cartesianism

Aristotle

Believed in a natural hierarchy. Some people are destined to be low class and others are meant to be nobility. There are natural differences between people. Animals differ from plants. Because we have nothing in common with animals, it is impossible to have a friendly and justful relationship with them.

Immanual Kant

We develop the wrong character when we harm an animal. You cannot be a good person if you are not good to the animals you encounter.

We have duties involving animals, but not directly towards them.

Jeremy Bentham

“Not can they reason, but can they suffer.”

Animals can suffer, even though they cannot reason like we do.

Charles Darwin

It is not the strong or the most intelligent species that survive, it is the ones that are the most adaptable to change,

Claude Bernard

He knows animals suffered and felt pain, but he was possessed by a scientific idea and his work.

Rachel Carson

Focused on the impacts of pesticides, led to a ban of DDT.

Ruth Harrison

Popularized the term “Factory Farming”

Raised concerns on antibiotic and hormone misuse.

Wrote book, “Animal Machines”

Bramble Report

Encompassed ideas that animals can suffer.

Introduced concept of behavioral needs.

Five Freedoms

Freedom from hunger and thirst

Freedom from discomfort

Freedom from pain, injury, or disease

Freedom to express normal behavior

Freedom from fear and distress

Richard Ryder

Created concept for speciesism

Campaigner for animal protection

If we are all Gods creatures, and animals are on the same biological continum, then surely they are on the same moral continum. Therefore, if it is wrong to inflict suffering on humans, it is wrong to do so for animals as well.

Peter Singer

Author of animal liberation, triggered the modern animal rights movement.

Tom Reagen

Rejected the Utilitarian view that we are justified to harm innocent individuals so that others may benefit.

Big Cat Public Safety Act into law

Prohibits keeping big cats as pets and also bans contact between big cats and the public

National Defense Authorization Act into law

removes the U.S. from the cruel shark fin trade and helps to combat wildlife trafficking.

Omnibus Bill

-Created permanent protections for animals used in research.

1. The USDA cannot license Class B random-source dealers, who were known for obtaining dogs and cats through questionable or dishonest methods

2. Laboratories operated by the USDA must be regularly inspected.

3. Any violations found during inspections must be documented in official USDA reports.

Bender and Leone

Those who do not know their opponents' arguments do not completely understand their own.

Ethics

-A general pattern or way of life

Morality

-Motives that incline us to choose the right or wrong course.

-Beliefs about the nature of man.

Naturalization Act of 1790

-Refused the granting of national citizenship to indentured servants, slaves, free Blacks and

later Asians.

Fugitive Slave Act of 1793

-Made it a crime to escape slavery and/or to harbor fugitive slaves.

Jim Crow laws

legalized racial segregation

Sedition Act of 1918

Limited freedom of speech by making it illegal to publicly state opposition to war.

Golden Rule

What you wish done to you, do to others.

Silver Rule

What you wish not done to you, do not do to others.

Iron Rule

Might Makes Right. Power determines what is considered right

Hedonism

The pursuit of sensual pleasures. This consists of achieving pleasure while also avoiding pain.

Gombe Chimpanzee War

A four-year conflict between two chimpanzee groups in Tanzania.

organized conflict and warfare-like behavior may not be completely unique to humans.

Altruism

helping another individual at a cost to yourself.

1937 Elixer Sulfanilamide tragedy

-There was no legal requirement to list inactive ingredients.

-Needed a liquid form of sulfa antibiotic for children.

-Problem: Used DEG as a diluent (toxic).

Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938

Resolution to the Sulfur Elixer tragedy.

It required medicines to be tested for safety before being sold.

Stateville Penitentiary Malaria Study

Researchers intentionally infected prisoners at an Illinois prison with malaria to test possible treatments for the disease.

Willowbrook State School

-Only allowed in students infected with hepatitis. Were only allowed in if they participated in the study.

Harlows Monkey Experiment

-Answered the question if monkeys form emotional attachments.

-Researchers separated baby monkeys from their biological mothers and gave them two artificial “mothers”.

-A wire mother made of metal that sometimes provided milk.

-A cloth mother that was soft and comforting and sometimes provided milk.

-They spent more time with the cloth mother.

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

-Researchers studied around 600 Black men, including hundreds who had syphilis. The men were.

-They were not told they had syphilis, that they were in a study, and were denied proper treatment.

-A lot of them died.

The National Commission

-Protected the rights and welfare of human subjects involved in research,

Belmont Emphasis

-Protects humans from exploitation.

-Special protection for the most vulnerable (children, pregnant women, disabled)

Ethical principles to protect human subjects (Belmont Emphasis)

1. Respect for persons

2. Beneficence

3. Justice

Respect for persons

-Each individual is autonomous

-Each person has the free will to make decisions about their welfare.

Beneficence

Researchers have a social duty to do good and improve the world by maximizing the ratio of good research consequences over bad consequences.

Justice

Researchers are bound by considerations of

fairness.

Lead Abatement Study

Researchers studied cheaper lead-cleanup methods by placing children in homes that could still expose them to lead, without clearly explaining all the risks to their parents.

Animal Welfare Act

-This act covers animals at all research facilities.

Principles:

-Laboratory animals must receive safe housing, food, water, and appropriate care.

-Researchers must write a protocol explaining exactly what they will do to the animals. The experiment cannot begin until it is approved.

-An IACUC committee must review and monitor the research to protect the animals’ welfare.

Composition of the I.A.C.U.C.

The IACUC committee must include:

1. A veterinarian who understands laboratory-animal health.

2. A scientist experienced in animal research.

3. An independent community member who does not work for the research institution and represents the public’s concerns.

4. Other members may be added if needed.

Duties of the I.A.C.U.C.

The IACUC’s duties are:

1. Review animal-research plans: It can approve the experiment, request changes before approving it, or reject it.

2. Inspect facilities twice a year: It checks laboratories, animal housing, and the institution’s animal-care program.

Violations of the Animal Welfare Act

-Severe penalties: up to $10,000/day/violation for every day the violation is present.

-Protection of "whistle blowers"

Pet Dealer Licensing and Regulations Act

which requires people who sell or breed dogs and cats to comply with strict standards of care and humane treatment in order to operate in New York State.

Legislation S.4254/A.4075

NY state Law

Your insurance cannot be denied, canceled, or made more expensive solely because you own a particular breed of dog.

Legislation S.5023A/A.5823-A

NY State Law

Requires Veterinarians to Report Suspected Animal Cruelty

Three R’s of Research

Reduce

Replace

Refine

VA Use of dogs and cats

The discontinuation of using dogs in research at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) was

prompted.

Utilitarian view

An action is morally right if it produces the greatest good or happiness for the greatest number of people.

-The greater good

Signs of animal frusturation

-Self mutilation

-Vocalization

-Over preening

Transgenic organisms

-Genetically modified organisms

Mice transgenic organisms

-Used to study immune system

Chickens transgenic organisms

Get them to be more resistant to infections

Cows transgenic organisms

Increase milk supply and for leaner meat

Do GMO crops affect animals?

-Independent studies show that there is no difference in how GMO and non-GMO foods affect the health and

safety of animals.

What can biotechnology do in agriculture?

-Increased production/efficiency

-Helps animals/crops resist diseases

-Bioremediation: Using living organisms to clean up pollution.

U.S Biological weapons during WWII

-The slide says that in 1949, scientists wanted to find out whether a building’s air conditioning could carry bacteria from one place to other rooms. They put bacteria they considered harmless into the Pentagon’s air system as a test.

-They wanted to know whether putting harmful bacteria into a building’s air system could expose people in rooms far from where the bacteria entered.

The Banner Report

-Harms of a certain degree must never be inflicted onto an animal, under no circumstances.

-Any harm to an animal requires justification. The realistic benefit must outweigh the harm to the animal.

-Even justified harm must be minimized. If the study goes ahead, researchers should cause as little harm as reasonably possible.

Principle of conservation of welfare

if people genetically change an animal, that change should not make the animal’s life worse. Ideally, it should improve its life.

Rollin

Kantianism

The ends never justifies the means.

Darwinian evolution

Survival of the fittest

Phenotypic/Genetic makeup

Social evolution

Something you learn by watching others.