The Validity of Animal Research

Hello everyone!  My name is Brent Garlow and welcome to my blog.  Chances are that if you're reading this, you're probably in my English class.  Since we're going to be seeing each other in class and reading each other's posts, I think it is appropriate to first tell you a little bit about myself so that I'm not just another anonymous name on your screen.  I’m 32 years old, majoring in mechanical engineering, married with two daughters, a cat and a dog.  I’m from Cattauragus, spent some time traveling the world and frequenting the California coast as a nuclear machinist’s mate in the US Navy.

In this week’s blog, I’m going to express my idea for a research paper.  At first, I was going to do a research paper on why domesticated K9 deserve more legal rights than wild K9 due to the relationships they have with their owners/families.  The legal rights in particular would be the right to life that mentally impaired humans have.

To elaborate on what I mean by “right to life”, I’m referring to dogs that get lost, and cause damage or non-lethal harm to humans.  Although local laws vary by city and state, usually if a domestic dog attacks someone, a human, even if that attack is non-lethal, that dog is taken away from the owner and put down.  Now imagine a mentally impaired person does the same thing.  Are they put down?  The reason I think this right to life should exist is because these domestic dogs are part of someone’s family and I think some legal consideration should be given to that family tie.

I realized that this would be a difficult research topic and after receiving some constructive feedback, I decided not to pursue this research topic. 

I decided instead that I’m going to research the vital importance of animal testing in the medical field.  This is an area of great interest to me, not only because of the combination of sheer curiosity and lack of knowledge of the subject on my part, but also because most of the rhetoric I've heard with respect to animal testing can be summed up as that it is immoral and cruel.  I’m the type of person who believes there is a contrapositive to every statement that is equally worthy of examination and discussion.  This is why I am going to determine if there is merit or validity in animal research.

An advantage to covering this issue is that there is an abundance of information on these topics, including counterpoints for me to compare and contrast.  A disadvantage to covering this issue is that it is something I know nothing about, but at the same time, that’s kind of why I chose it.  I wanted to venture out of my comfort zone of the familiar and journey into the unknown and bring my readers along with me.  As my research progresses, I may find that there are much better or more humane alternatives to animal testing, in which case, I’ll have to fine tune my topic. This is all just a starting point and the point I’m trying to make may change as new information is brought to light.