Medical Ethics and Animal Testing

After analysis of the material in our course, I found utilitarianism to be most effective in determining my approach to moral issues. It came up the most when making decisions about my answers and I like to think it’s something I practice in my daily life as well, not just when deciding about topics in my medical ethics class. I was able to understand utilitarianism and apply it in within the course after realizing that I use it in my everyday life, so that was helpful. I don’t think it’s always the best way to address a problem, but I do think that it’s important to take into consideration.

I prefer to use utilitarianism over the other moral systems when considering animal testing. I would first like to say that I believe animals have moral standing so my perspectives are stemmed from this. I also chose this as a topic for a previous reflection paper and it wasn’t until I read your comments that I reevaluated what I was saying and tweaked my opinion slightly, which I believe is a good thing.

Animal experimentation is used for both science and consumer goods. It provides us with advances and knowledge that seems necessary in order to continue our knowledge in science and to make better products for consumers. Now, while keeping utilitarianism in mind, I think it benefits a very large group of people. Advances in both science and medicine that were made possible by first beginning with animal experimentation are capable of saving live. It helps to protect us against negative side effects of untested products. I no longer think that consumer goods should be included in the list of beneficial results, seeing as cosmetics and other consumer products aren’t necessary in our lives.

On the other side of it, as humans, there is really no hurt going on. There are animal activist group that it affects but there is no physical pain. While I do see animal testing as beneficial (in a scientific and medical setting), I think the conditions and the treatment of the...