Vivisection
Encyclopedia
Vivisection is defined as surgery
conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system
, to view living internal structure. The term is sometimes more broadly defined as any experimentation on live animals (see animal testing.) The term is often used by organizations opposed to animal experimentation but is rarely used by practicing scientists. Human vivisection has been perpetrated as a form of torture
.
Research requiring vivisection techniques that cannot be met through other means are often subject to an external ethics
review in conception and implementation, and in many jurisdictions, use of anesthesia
is legally mandated for any surgery likely to cause pain to any vertebrate.
In the U.S., the Animal Welfare Act explicitly requires that any procedure that may cause pain utilize “tranquilizers, analgesics, and anesthetics,” with exceptions when “scientifically necessary.” The act does not define “scientific necessity” or regulate specific scientific procedures; instead, approval or rejection of individual techniques in each federally-funded lab is determined on a case-by-case basis by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
, which contains at least one veterinarian, one scientist, one non-scientist, and one individual from outside the university.
In the U.K.
, any experiment involving vivisection must be granted a licence by the Home Secretary
. The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986
“expressly directs that, in determining whether to grant a licence for an experimental project, ‘the Secretary of State shall weigh the likely adverse effects on the animals concerned against the benefit likely to accrue.’” The Code of Practice in Australia “requires that all experiments must be approved by an Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee” that includes a “person with an interest in animal welfare who is not employed by the institution conducting the experiment, and an additional independent person not involved in animal experimentation.”
Anti-vivisectionists have played roles in the emergence of the animal welfare
and animal rights
movements. Among their arguments is that it is immoral to inflict pain or injury to another living creature, for whatever purpose.
, a biological
and chemical warfare
research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army
, undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War
(1937–1945). Prisoners of war were subjected to various forms of vivisection, in many cases without anesthesia.
Nazi human experimentation
involved medical experiments on live subjects, such as vivisections by Josef Mengele
, usually without anesthesia.
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system
Central nervous system
The central nervous system is the part of the nervous system that integrates the information that it receives from, and coordinates the activity of, all parts of the bodies of bilaterian animals—that is, all multicellular animals except sponges and radially symmetric animals such as jellyfish...
, to view living internal structure. The term is sometimes more broadly defined as any experimentation on live animals (see animal testing.) The term is often used by organizations opposed to animal experimentation but is rarely used by practicing scientists. Human vivisection has been perpetrated as a form of torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
.
Animal vivisection
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
review in conception and implementation, and in many jurisdictions, use of anesthesia
Anesthesia
Anesthesia, or anaesthesia , traditionally meant the condition of having sensation blocked or temporarily taken away...
is legally mandated for any surgery likely to cause pain to any vertebrate.
In the U.S., the Animal Welfare Act explicitly requires that any procedure that may cause pain utilize “tranquilizers, analgesics, and anesthetics,” with exceptions when “scientifically necessary.” The act does not define “scientific necessity” or regulate specific scientific procedures; instead, approval or rejection of individual techniques in each federally-funded lab is determined on a case-by-case basis by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees are of central importance to the application of laws to animal research in the United States. Most research involving laboratory animals is funded by the United States National Institutes of Health or other federal agencies...
, which contains at least one veterinarian, one scientist, one non-scientist, and one individual from outside the university.
In the U.K.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, any experiment involving vivisection must be granted a licence by the Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
. The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986
Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986
The Animals Act 1986 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed in 1986, which regulates the use of laboratory animals in the UK. The Act permits experiments to be carried out on animals, including procedures involving vivisection, if certain criteria are met...
“expressly directs that, in determining whether to grant a licence for an experimental project, ‘the Secretary of State shall weigh the likely adverse effects on the animals concerned against the benefit likely to accrue.’” The Code of Practice in Australia “requires that all experiments must be approved by an Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee” that includes a “person with an interest in animal welfare who is not employed by the institution conducting the experiment, and an additional independent person not involved in animal experimentation.”
Anti-vivisectionists have played roles in the emergence of the animal welfare
Animal welfare
Animal welfare is the physical and psychological well-being of animals.The term animal welfare can also mean human concern for animal welfare or a position in a debate on animal ethics and animal rights...
and animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
movements. Among their arguments is that it is immoral to inflict pain or injury to another living creature, for whatever purpose.
Human vivisection
Unit 731Unit 731
was a covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese...
, a biological
Biological warfare
Biological warfare is the use of biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi with intent to kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war...
and chemical warfare
Chemical warfare
Chemical warfare involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons. This type of warfare is distinct from Nuclear warfare and Biological warfare, which together make up NBC, the military acronym for Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical...
research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army
Imperial Japanese Army
-Foundation:During the Meiji Restoration, the military forces loyal to the Emperor were samurai drawn primarily from the loyalist feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū...
, undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
(1937–1945). Prisoners of war were subjected to various forms of vivisection, in many cases without anesthesia.
Nazi human experimentation
Nazi human experimentation
Nazi human experimentation was a series of medical experiments on large numbers of prisoners by the Nazi German regime in its concentration camps mainly in the early 1940s, during World War II and the Holocaust. Prisoners were coerced into participating: they did not willingly volunteer and there...
involved medical experiments on live subjects, such as vivisections by Josef Mengele
Josef Mengele
Josef Rudolf Mengele , also known as the Angel of Death was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. He earned doctorates in anthropology from Munich University and in medicine from Frankfurt University...
, usually without anesthesia.
See also
- Pro-TestPro-TestPro-Test is a British group that promotes and supports animal testing in medical research. It was founded on January 29, 2006 to counter SPEAK, an animal-rights campaign opposing the construction by Oxford University of a biomedical and animal-research facility, which SPEAK believes may include a...
- Speaking of ResearchSpeaking of ResearchSpeaking of Research is a US-based group which actively supports the use of animals in biomedical research. It was founded in March, 2008 by Tom Holder, an "energetic young British activist who played an active role in the Pro-Test movement at the University of Oxford," who moved to the US for the...
- American Anti-Vivisection SocietyAmerican Anti-Vivisection SocietyThe American Anti-Vivisection Society is an organization created with the goal of eliminating a number of different procedures done by medical and cosmetic groups in relation to animal cruelty in the United States. It seeks to help the betterment of animal life and human-animal interaction through...
- Animal testing regulationsAnimal testing regulationsAnimal testing regulations vary around the world. Most governments aim to control the number of times individual animals may be used; the overall numbers used; and the degree of pain that may be inflicted without anesthetic.-Europe:...
- Critical animal studiesCritical animal studiesCritical Animal Studies is a term increasingly used by a wide range of academic groups who variously link it to what is otherwise known as "Animal Studies" , "Human-Animal Studies" , or "Posthumanism." Yet, there are key differences in terms of the ideological and methodological approaches to...
- DissectionDissectionDissection is usually the process of disassembling and observing something to determine its internal structure and as an aid to discerning the functions and relationships of its components....
- History of animal testingHistory of animal testingThe history of animal testing goes back to the writings of the Greeks in the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE, with Aristotle and Erasistratus among the first to perform experiments on living animals...
- Human subject research
- Intrinsic value (animal ethics)Intrinsic value (animal ethics)The intrinsic value of an animal refers to the value it possesses in its own right, as an end-in-itself, as opposed to its Instrumental value, its value to other animals . The phrase has been adopted by animal rights advocates...
- BionicsBionicsBionics is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology.The word bionic was coined by Jack E...
Further reading
- Pro-Test advocacy website http://www.pro-test.org.uk/
- Speaking of Research website http://speakingofresearch.com/
- "Paixao, RL; Schramm, FR. Ethics and animal experimentation: what is debated? Cad. Saúde Pública, Rio de Janeiro, 2007"
- Yarri, Donna. The Ethics of Animal Experimentation, Oxford University Press U.S., 2005