1. Ethical and Democratic Context
Animal Research:
Ethical and Democratic Context
Dan Lyons PhD
LAST, Dublin

2. Dan Lyons PhD Policy Consultant for IAVS
Director, Centre for Animals and Social Justice
Honorary Research Fellow, Dept of Politics, University of Sheffield
UK Political Studies Association: Best Thesis in Government and Public Administration
Member of Ireland’s National Committee

3. Dan Lyons The Politics of Animal Experimentation 9780230355118 www
Dan Lyons The Politics of Animal Experimentation

4. Structure of talk Ethical implications of ‘animal welfare’?
The challenge of ‘animal rights’
Determining right and wrong
Inherent/external limits on moral capacities
Democratic solutions?

5. Vance, RP (1992). JAMA 268;13:

6. Foundations of ‘animal protection’
Mainstream analytical ethics
Downplays emotion and sentiment
‘Scientific’ method
Consistency with empirical evidence, e.g. animal welfare science

7. Human justice
Basic/fundamental rights – negative duties (to not torture, murder etc.)
Secondary/civic rights – positive duties, (‘distributive’ justice from social relations)
Equal consideration must be given to similar interests, e.g. in not being tortured
Leads to Universal Declaration of Human Rights

8. The moral relevance of pain
a difference in species is not in itself a morally-relevant distinction
the only relevant boundary is the limit of sentience
e.g. mice experience anxiety and depression
(Kalueff AV, Wheaton M, Murphy DL. ‘What's wrong with my mouse model? Advances and strategies in animal modeling of anxiety and depression’. Behav Brain Res. 2007;179(1):1–18. doi: /j.bbr PMID )

9. Argument from marginal cases
OPTION 1: If language/moral agency required for ethical status…. Then experimenting on nonhumans means experimenting on ‘marginal’ humans (R. Frey) or OPTION 2: If sentience or consciousness are the criteria… Then, all humans are protected plus all sentient nonhumans

10. Which guide to ethical behaviour?
Scientific approach based on reason, fairness and consistent with empirical data or
‘religious and ethnic traditions that draw on an array of sources such as canonical texts, authoritative readings, overlapping (even contradictory platitudes), community norms’

11. Idealism and Reality
Human behaviour deeply influenced by social environment and individual variability
Moral progress emerges from interaction of idealism and social ‘habit’
Ideal of ‘avoiding animal harm’ appears consensual
‘Ought’ implies ‘make it so’ (M Wissenburg)

12. Animal research: ethical and democratic requirements
Almost 360% increase over last 6 years (07-13)
Research community has significant influence
Animal research has weaknesses in translation (Perel P, et al BMJ 334: ; Pound & Bracken, BMJ 2014;348:g3387)
Needs strategic scientific and political action
Engage with public, social science and 3Rs
Harm-benefit analysis of research proposals
Animal research policy seminar - tinyurl.com/o36k3bd

13. Stroke research references
Strong AJ, et al ‘The use of in vivo fluorescence image sequences to indicate the occurrence and propagation of transient focal depolarizations in cerebral ischemia.’ Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism 16(3):
Macleod MR, O’Collins T, Howells DW, Donnan A ‘Pooling of animal experimental data reveals influence of study design and publication bias.’ Stroke 35(5):
Macleod M ‘What can systematic review and meta-analysis tell us about the experimental data supporting stroke drug development?’ International Journal of Neuroprotection and Neuroregeneration 1:201