On biotechnology and animal welfare.

Abstract

Abstract In the course of human history, the primary use of animals for more than 10 000 years has been agricultural - food, fibre, locomotion and power. And for most of that history, the well-being of the animals being used was assured by necessity. If one did not practice good husbandry, the animals did not produce, and those who raised the animals were equally harmed. Proper treatment of animals therefore was presuppositional to civilization. Unfortunately, with the coming of the Industrial Revolution, humans abandoned the 'ancient contract' with animals that had lasted 10 000 years. We could now increase the productivity of animals by use of 'technological sanders' that allowed us to keep animals under conditions where their welfare suffered but they continued to produce. The advent of biotechnology showed that this same exploitative mindset would dominate agricultural biotechnology. The rise of animal experimentation similarly demonstrated cavalier human disregard for animal well-being. Rationalizations such as the Cartesian claim that animals were machines buttressed this disregard. As was the case with agriculture, biotechnological manipulation of animals again disregarded animal welfare. For these reasons, it is morally necessary to set strict sense standards for genetic manipulation. Furthermore, public support for animal research is inversely proportional to the animals' degree of suffering. Thus, ethics and self-interest converge in this case.