Three Dimensions of Animal Experiment Ethics: Analysis Based on Value of Life, Animal Welfare, and Risk Prevention

doi:10.12300/j.issn.1674-5817.2024.108

Abstract

Abstract:

Ethical review of animal experiments is based on factors such as the necessity of the experiment, its scientific validity, the professional competence of the experimenters, and research conditions, to determine the ethical permissibility of an animal experiment. Attitudes towards laboratory animals and animal experiments vary significantly due to differences in cultural traditions, religious beliefs, personality traits, and roles within the experimentation process. How animal experiment ethics can advance in tandem with the advancements of life sciences, while consistently providing forward-looking guidance and safeguarding fundamental ethics, is a subject that requires continuous exploration, practice, and research. Ensuring the welfare of laboratory animals has now become a widely accepted ethical consensus. However, attitudes and principles towards different types of animal experiments, and the methods to genuinely and effectively ensure the welfare quality of animals during live animal experiments, should be central to animal experiment ethics. Based on the deep integration of biotechnology in the field of laboratory animals, this paper considers the contribution of animal experimentation to the development of scientific ethical concepts. It systematically elucidates the special value of life in laboratory animals and their relationship with biosafety and ecological safety. It also outlines welfare quality assessment methods for different species of laboratory animals, demonstrating that the philosophical ideology of the value of life is the core of animal experiment ethics. The quality and significance of animal experiments determine the ethical level at which the value of life in laboratory animals is realized, and animal welfare technologies provide a robust ethical guarantee for animal experiments. The close integration of ethical theories with life sciences in laboratory animals is an objective requirement for animal experiment ethics. The value of life, animal welfare, and risk prevention collectively form the core elements of ethical review in animal experiments, serving as fundamental factors in improving the quality of ethical reviews and avoiding ethical deviations.

Key words: Laboratory animals, Ethical review, Value of life, Animal welfare, Risk prevention

CLC Number:

Q95-33

ZHAO Yong. Three Dimensions of Animal Experiment Ethics: Analysis Based on Value of Life, Animal Welfare, and Risk Prevention[J]. Laboratory Animal and Comparative Medicine, 2024, 44(4): 445-454. DOI: 10.12300/j.issn.1674-5817.2024.108.

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