Originally Posted by
Webimpulse
Namaste,
I have a rather ambivalent view of animal testing...on the one hand, I do agree with the sentiments here that being cruel towards other creatures for the sake of our own salvation is morally wrong. But then again, if I express such sentiments myself, I'd be a hypocrite, and I'll explain why.
I'm a diabetic. Type II. Sadly, meat is one of the few things that doesn't send my blood sugar into low orbit (although I abstain from beef entirely, if that counts at all). Yes, I know it's possible to live life as a vegetarian even when one is a diabetic, but there's one more complication that makes it difficult to be diabetic and be cruelty-free towards animals - the need for insulin.
It was animal testing on pigs that made the development of insulin possible. Back when it was developed, which is in the 1960's (if not earlier, I forget the exact dates), the computer simulations that are used by many labs today instead of animal testing weren't an option. And insulin makes the lives of many, many diabetics a lot easier and a lot less painful. I don't know how insulin is made these days - odds are pigs aren't used anymore - but the fact is pigs were used in the past to make life as a diabetic easier.
Am I therefore wrong for using insulin, even though, as said before, pigs are most likely no longer used to make it? Would I still be considered to be supportive of animal testing if I use insulin? And be honest here: what's more valuable? My life, or the life or whatever pigs were used to develop insulin? I understand if you don't want to answer that question, but in my mind, if the animal testing is truly being beneficial for humanity, I can't really speak out against it because in my case it would be hypocrisy.
However, if the animal testing is not absolutely beneficial for humanity - say, in the case of cosmetic testing - then absolutely I can and will condemn it. But can you really fault me for relying on a product that was developed to prolong my life, even if it was developed before the time of computer assistance?
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