Farms and Labs

1170 : 

We’ve been brought up to see animal-farms as romantic or at least useful places.  And, heaven-forbid, the same goes for animal research labs.  As a community we seem to value the work of farmers and scientists who ‘work with animals’.  Consumers, along with factory farmers and vivisectors, are becoming increasingly desensitised to the suffering of animals, especially when they can be so useful.  For instance, consumers let themselves be persuaded that an animal laboratory is a benign place, and that researching, using animals as models, is acceptable.  They allow themselves to believe that pharmaceuticals are produced to make our lives safer.  As pharmacy customers, we want to know nothing about what goes on behind the scenes in those animal-testing labs.

The consumer would rather not know, because it’s difficult enough to avoid feeling ashamed about eating food-from-farmed-animals, let alone taking drugs that have been safety-tested-on-lab-animals.  So, this whole subject is ignored. And truth is not relevant.

But to the animals it’s very relevant.