For the past three decades, there has been widespread debate over the use of animals in medical science and product testing. Heartrending images of caged monkeys awaiting vivisection in government laboratories and rabbits with skin lesions where cosmetics have been tested convince many that animal research is cruel and often unwarranted. Yet a belief in using every method available to ensure product safety and improve human health keeps a majority of people (53 percent in 1995) in support of animal experimentation. The controversy has succeeded in forcing animal researchers, animal rights activists, and the general public to consider the ethical as well as the practical concerns of experimenting on animals to benefit humans.

Triggering the debate

One of the first events that prompted debate concerning animal experimentation was the 1975 publication of Peter Singer's book, Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals. Singer, an Australian philosopher, questioned whether...