Tuesday Blog: Week Three

This week I have begun reading Animal Scam by Kathleen Marquardt, and I am currently on page  35. In contrast to the book I read first, Monkey Business, this book actually opposes animal rights and promotes animal welfare. Although the names sound very similar, the difference between animal rights and animal welfare are actually very significant. Animal rights are rights believed to belong to animals to live free from use in medical research, hunting, and other services to humans. People who support animal rights believe that humans and animals should be entirely equal. In contrast to animal rights, animal welfare is the protection of the health and well-being of animals. The Author of this book is a mother who is defending people much like herself who believe in animals being treated ethically, but don't think that animals should have as many rights as a person. She deiced to write this book after her child came home from school and called her a "Murderer" after a PETA representative came to her school. Marquardt felt that something needed to be changed so she created Putting People First. She created this to defend humans rights, animal welfare and conservation. So far in my readings the main focus of the book has been exposing some of the things that are corrupt within the animal rights argument and the groups that identify with that idea.

Soruce: wordpress.com

Quote

"The goal of putting people first is to recognize the unique role of man as the only earthy creature able to care about animal welfare, understand ecology, or foresee the consequences of our actions."(Marquardt xv)

Kathleen Marquardt the founder of Putting People First, was tired of being categorized into two groups, the animal rights group, or the group of people who had no regard for animals well being. That is why she created Putting People First. The group stands for treating animals ethically, but not letting that take away from humans well being. Animal welfare groups like Putting People First support animal testing if it is done ethically and also support hunting and the consumption of meat as long as it is done without cruelty. This quote which describes the goal of Putting People First shows that the main goals are to show compassion, think logically and understand any possible outcomes for their actions. Compassion and logic are essential to understanding the main goals of Putting People First. 

Source: psyche.media

Although from my previous blogs it might appear that I am completely supportive of animal rights, but in fact that is not the case. I do believe in the ethical treatment of animals and I also do not use products on a daily basis that use animal testing. I do believe in using animals to advance medicine as long as it is done humanely. By saying humane experiments I mean experiments that are done on sick animals in hopes to cure their aliments as well as sick humans suffering from similar health problems  I believe in using animals in medicine because I see how it is essential for new medicine to be developed. I have lost two grandparents to cancer and they both were taking medications which were tested on animals. Without testing on animals they might not have had any medications at all to help treat cancer. So similarly to Marquardt I believe in animal welfare, but I do see the necessity to use the resources we have around us. Later in life I plan to study biomedical engineering or biological engineering and both majors have to do with advancing medicine. So, if advancements in medicine have to come from using animals and there is not alternative I will support it as long it is done humanely.

Source: cancerresearchuk.org

This website has some of the advancements in cancer research and treatment possible through animal testing if you are interested in learning more. If you are interested in reading about techniques to make animal testing more ethical then this website is for you.

Marquardt, Kathleen, et al. AnimalScam: the Beastly Abuse of Human Rights. Regnery Gateway, 1993.