BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AS SELF-DEFENSE

"[Man's] ability to defend himself and to hunt effectively and in
relative safety assured him of eventual dominance over all of the
larger animals. But that by no means was the end of the struggle
since he had, and still has, yet to win the battle with the small
animals such as rats, mice, insects, and the microorganisms. In
this fight of self-defense and struggle for survival the gun is
of little use. But man has developed another weapon which is
effective against the remaining threats to his existence: the
research laboratory. Without that weapon his life span no doubt
would have remained that of man in the Middle Ages, which was
about 38 years - the same as it was in the Bronze Age. It may
then be fair to say that those who would attack the biological
and medical research establishments are in effect asking man to
return to the threats and dangers of eariler eras, and in doing
so they may become part of the problem.

The struggle for survival by man has long left the hand-to-hand
combat level with other species. It has now moved into the
research labroratory. Research, including that using animals, is
self-defense against a host of other competing species. At least
one AV-AR author agrees that self-defense is an adequate reason
for killing animals." [p.2]

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Ernest Verhetsel. 1986. "They Threaten Your Health: A Critique of
the Antivivisection/Animal Rights (AV-AR) Movement". People for
Ethical Animal Research (PEAR), Tucson, Arizona.