Sunday night is a special time for some of us. This is when Bones comes on TV at 8:30ish to amaze us by revealing the bad people who think they can get away with their dastardly crimes. In real life, Emily Deschanel also tries to do her bit to make the world a better place. Last month, she wrote an important letter to the National Institutes of Health in the United States deploring their transfer of 14 chimpanzees to a laboratory where they would probably meet with a nasty end (http://www.looktothestars.org/news/5870-emily-deschanel-stands-up-for-chimpanzees).
Is animal testing ethical and is it ever justified? Even popular secular (and often controversial) philosopher Dr Peter Singer thinks that the practice is sometimes permissible. If experiments conducted on a small number of animals is of benefit to thousands of people, then it is justified. He does give us some food for thought. Firstly, Dr Singer reminds us that causing unnecessary suffering to any living creature is morally wrong. He is a bit extreme in also claiming that eating meat should be considered morally wrong as the pleasure one may attain by eating say a medium rare fillet, does not justify the harm it would cause to the steak donor. Secondly, Dr Singer would say that all animals have as much right to live as humans (after all, he would argue we are just animals too). In that light, it would be just as justifiable to conduct experiments on people with irreversible brain damage instead of animals (http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/by/20061203.htm).
Dr Singer of course has many other interesting ideas some of which only make sense if one discounts the existence of God. As followers of Christ, we would have to disagree with many of his conclusions as they disregard the special value and position which God has bestowed on all humanity. The Bible teaches that all people are made in the image of God and therefore have a special place and purpose in creation (Genesis 1:26-28, Psalm 8:4-6, Revelation 21:3). All people therefore deserve dignity and respect and cannot be marginalised on the basis of physical ability, age or even for the sake of utility.
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