Animal Rights or Animal Welfare?

[Mendel's Balls]

Hello,

I have recently joined the site and am very excited about it. Anyway to the point.... Mendel, earlier in this post you claimed that human organs such as a kidney have not yet been able to be cloned in most cases you are correct. However a recent scientific discussed how a man, his name escapes me, recently GREW a bladder. what he did is selected several cells from deep inside a regeular human bladder and then he grew them around the mold of a bladder, he eneded up with a fully functioning bladder and had i put into severa people who had malfunctioning bladders alll had increased bladder funcion toa degree

Ty

Your right...I've heard about this.....If I get time I might try to dig up something on this.....I mentioned this before when I mentioned tissue engineering. I was a part of PTEI.

A bladder isnt a kidney though (kidneys are much more complex) However, The developments in bladder regeneration are exciting. There are also a lot of exciting things going on with cardiomyocytes--using them to heal hearts.

Even with the development of organs in vitro.....organs are not organ systems.......we'd still need animal research. It will be quite awhile before we can do away with animal research.

[Ginevive]

One of my husband's cousins tried to get his animals on welfare...and claim them on his taxes...he almost got away with it too. :eek:

In the spirit of the quoted post (to which I found tremendously funny) I think that all animals should have the rights to demand welfare.

Wow; here in Ny state, he probably would have gotten away with it.. it is the welfare state, after all.

[ReptileFan]

O god i know kindeys are very hard imagine a heart lol but i really dont think its far off i was just responding because someone (i dont think it was you now that i think lol) had said growing organs had not been done and was decades away. that is false . also skin has been grown in labs which is by definition an organ but i cant wait till we can grow hearts so many lives will be saved



edit : wow sry kinda big run on i do that lol like now

[KittyJ]

Animal Wlefare is prociding them with good health, food and everything addiquette to live. But say we needed to find a cure for whatever, and wanted to test some harmful crud on animals its ok, or want meat/milk/eggs to eat, we make farms to grow them in horrible conditions to satisfy our cravings.

Animals rights is against that, its FOR THERE RIGHT, just like people, they believe animal rights are just the same, jus tliek anyone else. AGAINTS animal abuse of ALL kinds.

[Mendel's Balls]

Animal Wlefare is prociding them with good health, food and everything addiquette to live. But say we needed to find a cure for whatever, and wanted to test some harmful crud on animals its ok, or want meat/milk/eggs to eat, we make farms to grow them in horrible conditions to satisfy our cravings.

Animals rights is against that, its FOR THERE RIGHT, just like people, they believe animal rights are just the same, jus tliek anyone else. AGAINTS animal abuse of ALL kinds.

With rights comes responsibilities. I guess when an animal craps in the street then it should be thrown in jail. Th whole idea that animal have the same inalienable rights as we do is so impractical, ridiculous, and absurd.

I have feed the troll enough.....

[jhall1468]

If we give animals "rights" where exactly should we end them? Should a dog be able to marry a cat? Sign a contractual agreement? If I die, can I leave my Pastel my property?

Rights are bestowed on those who can actually use them, and more importantly, those that are aware of their meaning. If we are going to blur the line further, why stop at animals, why not plants as well? How about viruses?

The question has a confusing premise. Technically, we COULD consider anti-cruelty laws a "right" on its own, even if it's somewhat vicarious. Granted, it doesn't extend any real rights on the animals themselves, but it certainly prevents us (as humans) from committing said acts. However, the same could be said of life. We technically don't have the "right" to live, we do have laws against murdering however.

As for the issue of animal testing, I find it odd to be against it. While there is obviously some pain in the process of testing, I fail to see how that is any more cruel than their natural habitats. Mice are tested in labs, and eventually killed in a very humane way. That's certainly more than they are going to get in the wild, unless you consider being eaten alive a humane death.

[Mendel's Balls]

Thought I'd update this thread...I found this recent scienceblog entry particularly interesting.

More thoughts on animal research: Pets & wild animals benefit, too.

Couple of quotes from the entry:

"Every year people adopt pet dogs, cats, birds, and other creatures and take them to their local veterinarians for all the usual vaccinations and exams. The usual vaccinations protect your pets from diseases like rabies, distemper, Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, and Feline Leukemia. But it's not just pets that get protected by vaccines. Agricultural creatures: fish, chickens, sheep, cows, pigs, and horses receive vaccines and increasingly, wild animals are getting vaccinated, too."

"Like the vaccines produced for humans, the vaccines produced for animals must be pure, potent, safe, and they must work. This means that all the vaccines that are given to your pets, agricultural animals, and wild animals were tested on lab animals to make sure that the vaccines are safe and that they work."

The comments and links in the comments are pretty interesting and informative as well.

[dsirkle]

I certainly don't think that the rights of animals should ever supersede or even equal the rights of humans such as the position that PETA takes. I also would put into different categories wildlife and domesticated animals as to our obligations to them. Any animal that is under man's care should certainly be afforded humane treatment and decent care.

[NightLad]

I agree with testing life-saving medications/techniques on animals, providing all steps are taken to ensure the techniques are as humane as possible.

In my opinion; no number of lab-mice will ever equal a human life. Millions of mice are killed every day in traps, so it amazes me when protestors target labs working to cure cancer yet never step foot near a mouse-trap factory.

I DO NOT agree with animal testings for any kind what so ever! I DO NOT think a life should be wasted for humans desire to learn more. We can COPY animal flesh and DNA and make an axact duplicate of it, why do it on animals any more? IMO They shouldnt suffer. A life is a life and a soul no matter what!

Cultured organic cells, grown in Petri dishes, are still living organisms. They don’t live on water. For the most part they are fed Bovine embryonic paste. Which means cow foetuses are tossed into blenders to keep them alive.