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作者：傑奇•艾倫•朱利安諾 博士
我們也發現，研究團體沒有讓大眾知道動物與人類之間生理上的差異。在許多例子中，使用動物實驗而不是電腦模擬或組織培養，就科學的觀點來說是不必的。舉例來說，老鼠是最常用的實驗對象，每年要用掉數百萬隻，然而人類與齧齒動物生理上的不同，是遠遠超過相同之處的。
更重要的是，只有3年壽命的齧齒動物所測試的大量藥劑，遠超過很多人一生中可能會消耗藥物的劑量。某些癌症的化療，會在人類的腎臟造成傷害，但齧齒動物不會。Imuran是一種抑制免疫系統、用來治療某些嚴重疾病的藥物，會影響老鼠的生育，但是人類不會。齧齒動物會在3個小時後從牠們體內排除藥物，人類則是72個小時。齧齒動物能藉由舔體毛獲得維他命D，而人類卻只能由曬太陽或飲食中獲得。
齧齒動物沒有膽囊，因此消化油脂的方式與人類大相逕庭。還有很多藥物及療程會使齧齒動物致死，但是卻不會傷害人類的例子，反之亦然。同樣道理也可適用於其他動物。
因此為何在還有其他替代方法下，持續地使用動物作為實驗對象？因為這是生意，非關科學，這背後是一個買賣實驗用動物的龐大商機，有時甚至是以非常殘忍的方法進行。代表動物研究供給方利益的人士，仍舊在非洲補殺黑猩猩寶寶的父母，就為了將小黑猩猩綁走後賣到美國的研究機構去。
聽起來很像美國歷史上的非洲與奴隸，不是嗎？
動物相當地便宜，若你缺乏道德良心、可能對牠們很殘忍，實驗犯了錯、或者結果未合你意，丟掉就好，反正再多都買得到。
許多研究者流於爭取研究經費，每6個月便重來一次，即使沒有任何的結果可以發表，甚至那些贊助研究的單位，也沒有為了這些折磨致死的動物，而要求有任何結論。
社會大眾已經等得太久了，該是去限制醫學研究人員的時候了，不要再讓他們進行這類粗糙、多餘、而又不必要的動物實驗。動物也有與人類相似的感覺，已被證實。
雖然許多醫學的進步，是來自動物實驗，其實有一些是可以藉由其它更有效的替代途徑得到。道德良心是不能有雙重標準的，若那些我們視為領導和希望的人，以殘暴和折磨的方式，來對待應該是我們的鄰居、而不是奴隸的生命時，那我們又如何能期待孩子們能在這種文化之下，結束如此的殘暴行為呢？
參考資料
1.美國國家衛生研究院於1998年的調查指出，他們贊助的動物研究，有25%是詐欺。可藉由director@nih.gov寫信給美國國家衛生研究院的院長，以表達你希望贊助的規定能更嚴謹。
2.大部份的動物與人類是不相同的，並且在動物身上使用人類的藥物是可笑的。若盤尼西林當年使用天竺鼠作為試驗對象，將永遠無法上市--因為天竺鼠會因此而死。可由人道動物協會http://www.peta-online.org得知更多關於此議題的資訊。
3.許多慈善團體支持動物實驗，可由下面網站中找到並不支持動物實驗的慈善機構：
http://www.geari.org/charitiesdont
test.html
4.持續得知收容所佔有的議題及找出在你的社區中所做的事，可參考下列網址：
http://www.banpoundseizure.org/
home.shtml
5.在下列網址可得知更多關於動物研究的議題：
http://www.aavs.org/laboratories01.html
6.可在
http://www.aavs.org/relatedSites.html 得知更多廣泛的網路討論議題。
7.在下列網站可找到不使用動物測試的公司：
http://www.peta.org/mall/cc/ccdont
test.html
8.可在約翰霍浦金斯大學中找到動物測試的替代方式：
http://altweb.jhsph.edu/
9.現代化醫學研究委員會：
http://www.mrmcmed.org/critcv.html
10.可拜訪為動物人道治療的心理學家：http://www.psyeta.org/傑奇•艾倫•朱利安諾博士是西雅圖的作家與教師，並且也是《淨化我們的世界：從黑暗到光明的旅程》的作者，可由此網址找到他的作品：http://www.xlibris.com/HealingOur
World.html以及另一著作《在這地球往來之間的反射》：http://ofthisearth.org/。請將您的想法、意見及觀點寄給朱利安諾博士：jackie@healingourworld.com
以及他的網站：http://www.healingourworld.com/
【文章連載】
■面對動物實驗的神話
(上) (中) (下)
全文與圖片詳見：http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2003/2003-10-10g.asp
版權歸屬Environment News Service (ENS)，環境資訊協會(吳怡青 譯，蘇崧棱
蔡麗伶審校)
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By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.
We discovered that the research community also keeps the
public in the dark about the many inconsistencies that exist between
animal and human physiology. In many cases, testing on animals rather
than computer models or tissue cultures makes absolutely no sense from a
scientific point of view. For example, rats and mice are the most common
test subjects. Millions are used each year. Yet when human physiology is
compared to that of rodents, the differences far outweigh any
similarities.
Most importantly, the three year lifespan of rodents
requires that massive doses of drugs be used for testing, more than a
human would ever consume in many lifetimes. Certain drugs used for
cancer chemotherapy that cause kidney damage in humans do not in
rodents. Imuran, a drug used to treat certain serious diseases by
suppressing the immune system, causes birth defects in mice, but not in
humans. Rodents eliminate drugs from their bodies in three hours,
compared to 72 hours in humans. Rodents get Vitamin D by licking their
own fur while humans can only get it through exposure to sunlight or
diet.
Rodents have no gall bladder and digest fats very
differently from humans. There are many more examples of drugs and
procedures that kill rodents but do not harm humans and vice versa.
These examples extend to other species as well.
So why do animals continue to be used when alternatives
exist? Because it is an industry, not a science, and huge businesses
exist to breed or acquire animals destined for research, sometimes
through very brutal methods. Parents of baby chimpanzees in Africa are
still murdered by those acting on behalf of animal research supply
houses, and the young chimps are kidnapped to sell into research
facilities in the United States.
Sound familiar, like another period in U.S. history
involving beings from Africa and slavery?
Animals are relatively cheap and, if you cast morals and
ethics to the wind, you can brutalize them, throw them away if you make
a mistake or the results are not to your liking, and just get more.
Many researchers are addicted to research grants,
renewing them every six months even though they have no results to show
– and the granting agencies do not require any - for all the animals
that have suffered horribly and died.
The time is long overdue for the public to rein in
medical researchers who practice poor, redundant, or unnecessary
experiments on animals that have been proven to have feelings very
similar to humans.
While some medical advances have been made using
animals, in many cases the same results could have been more effectively
obtained using alternatives. The double standard of morals and ethics
must end. How can we expect our children to end the cycle of violence in
our culture if those we look to for leadership and hope brutalize and
torture forms of life we should consider our neighbors, not our slaves?
RESOURCES
1. The U.S. National Institutes of Health own
investigator said in a 1998 report that 25 percent of the animal
research they fund turns out to be fraudulent. Send an email message to
the Director of the NIH at:
director@nih.gov, saying that you want the funding requirements
tightened up.
2. Most animals are not like humans and testing human
drugs on them is ludicrous. If guinea pigs had been chosen as the animal
subjects for penicillin tests, that drug would never have been released
- penicillin kills guinea pigs. Learn about this aspect of the issue
from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals at:
http://www.peta-online.org/
3. Many charities support animal research. For a list of charities that
do not, visit:
http://www.geari.org/charitiesdont
test.html
4. Keep up with the pound seizure issue and find out what is done in
your community at:
http://www.banpoundseizure.org/
home.shtml
5. Learn more about the issue of animals in research at:
http://www.aavs.org/laboratories01.html
6. See a comprehensive list of websites addressing the issue at:
http://www.aavs.org/relatedSites.html
7. For a good list of companies that do not test on animals, visit:
http://www.peta.org/mall/cc/
ccdonttest.html
8. Visit the Johns Hopkins University Center for Alternatives to Animal
testing at:
http://altweb.jhsph.edu/
9. Visit the site of the Medical Research Modernization Committee at:
http://www.mrmcmed.org/critcv.html
10. Visit Psychologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals at:
http://www.psyeta.org/
{Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D. is a writer and teacher in Seattle and the
author of "Healing Our World, A Journey from the Darkness Into the
Light," available at:
http://www.xlibris.com/Healing
OurWorld.html and “Of This
Earth, Reflections on Connections,” available at:
http://ofthisearth.org/ . Please send your thoughts, comments, and
visions to him at:
jackie@healingourworld.com and visit his website at:http://www.healingourworld.com/}
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2003/2003-10-10g.asp
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