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

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

Dan Lyons The Politics of Animal Experimentation 9780230355118 www Dan Lyons The Politics of Animal Experimentation 9780230355118 www.palgrave.com

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?

Vance, RP (1992). JAMA 268;13: 1715-1719

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

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

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:10.1016/j.bbr.2007.01.023. PMID 17306892.)

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

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’

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)

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. 2007. BMJ 334:197-202; 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 dan.lyons@casj.org.uk

Stroke research references Strong AJ, et al. 1996. ‘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):367-77 . Macleod MR, O’Collins T, Howells DW, Donnan A. 2004. ‘Pooling of animal experimental data reveals influence of study design and publication bias.’ Stroke 35(5):1203-8. Macleod M. 2005. ‘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