Don’t Monkeys Have Rights?
Scientists are intentionally making them two to three times their normal weight — in order to study diabetes.
Full article on the colony of lab rat monkeys. View more photos here.
Health Care Policy and Reform Insights | NCPA
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It’s ironic: We’re feeding these monkeys high fat foods against their will; we’re feeding ourselves high fat foods because they taste good.
The real question: would the so-called “free monkeys” eat junk food if they had the choice?
I think this is really outrageous.
Why can’t they experiment on people and leave the monkeys alone.
Rusty, there are probably a lot of humans who would do it for the free food.
@Virginia My guess is no. Animals eat for fuel and have an innate sense of how much is too much to eat. Much better sense than humans.
I think it’s absurd that scientists are using animals to study the link between obesity and diabetes. It’s common sense that being obese is never healthy, so why test for just one symptom of it to prove the link?
Certain species of rats are bred to be susceptible to diabetes so scientists can study its effects in the lab. If it’s unethical to intentionally over-feed monkeys to study diabetes, wouldn’t it be unethical to intentionally breed diabetic rats?
I don’t think monkeys have rights. On the other hand, I don’t believe in cruelty to monkeys. Surely there are humans who would volunteer for these experiments if you gave them free food.
Right on, Larry.