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 全文如下.
Text 2 To paraphrase 18th-century statesman Edmund Burke,"all that is needed for the
triumph of a misguided cause is that good people do nothing."One such cause now seeks to end
biomedical research because of the theory that animals have rights ruling out their use in
research. Scientists need to respond forcefully to animal rights advocates, whose arguments are
confusing the public and thereby threatening advances in health knowledge and care. Leaders of
the animal rights movement target biomedical research because it depends on public funding,
and few people understand the process of health care research. Hearing allegations of cruelty to
animals in research settings, many are perplexed that anyone would deliberately harm an animal.??
For example, a grandmotherly woman staffing an animal rights booth at a recent street fair
was distributing a brochure that encouraged readers not to use anything that opposed
immunizations, she wanted to know if vaccines come from animal research. When assured that
they do, she replied,"Then I would have to say yes."Asked what will happen when epidemics
return, she said,"Don't worry, scientists will find some way of using computers."Such
well-meaning people just don's understand.??
Scientists must communicate their message to the public in a compassionate,
understandable way-in human terms, not in the language of molecular biology. We need to make
clear the connection between animal research and a grandmother's hip replacement, a father's
bypass operation a baby's vaccinations, and even a pet's shots. To those who are unaware that
animal research was needed to produce these treatments, as well as new treatments and vaccines,
animal research seems wasteful at best and cruel at worst.??
Much can be done. Scientists could"adopt"middle school classes and present their own
research. They should be quick to respond to letters to the editor, lest animal rights
misinformation go unchallenged and acquire a deceptive appearance of truth. Research
institutions could be opened to tours, to show that laboratory animals receive humane care.
Finally, because the ultimate stakeholders are patients, the health research community should
actively recruit to its cause not only well-known personalities such as Stephen Cooper, who has
made courageous statements about the value of animal research, but all who receive medical
treatment. If good people do nothing there is a real possibility that an uninformed citizenry will
extinguish the precious embers of medical progress.??
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2005-10-10 22:17:42
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