When it comes to the subject of animal rights there is a never ending debate of what is morally right to do to animals and what actions towards those animals are justified. Are medical experiments on animals justified? If a farm animal lived a happy life but was then killed for food, does that make it better than a factory farm? Do humans have a right to live above non-human animals? This is only the tip of the iceberg and these questions could go on for pages, but I'm going to touch on and argue on Singers point towards animal rights, which is no doubt supported by PETA, that we have "direct duties to members of other species"(Shaw,p.147). My agreeance is with Hare of being a demi-vegetarian and that it wasn't morally required to become a full vegetarian, which Peter Singer proposed (Shaw, p. 165) I will also touch on the morality of animals used for research and experiments. Ultimately, I don't agree with how factory farms are managed and I don't agree with corporate experiments on animals for better consumer products, but I do agree with eating meat for a balanced diet and I do agree with medical animal testing.
Animal activists, despite their claims, know that it is undeniable that animal-based research has contributed to immense improvement in the length and quality of human life. According to AMP, Americans for Medical Progress, animal research and experiments have contributed to breakthroughs in cancers, HIV/AIDS, heart disease/stroke, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, hepatitis c, birth defects, bioterrorism countermeasures, epilepsy, spinal cord injuries, and cystic fibrosis. (Www.amprogress.org) Thanks to animal-based research there is a new molecular and genetic understanding of a tumors biology and allows for doctors to set up treatment to more directly kill cancer cells. (Www.amprogress.org) Two medicines, Herceptin and Tamoxifen, have saved thousands of lives of people with breast cancer and animal research had an essential role in their development.
