Ética, saúde e vivissecção animal: é possível que os experimentos científicos com animais, sejam, de fato, abolidos?

Abstract

From the beginning of time humanity identified themselves as superior beings. Other animals were subdued by humans for not having the capacity of rationalization. Over the centuries, peculiar animal behavior have been observed demonstrating that they have feelings. With the evolution of science we are able to show that animals are capable of suffering pain and fear. Animal protection theories began to emerge starting a movement for the animals well-being. Meanwhile for scientific research purposes, animals are still being used as test subjects (including dissecting them alive, which is a cruel practice) in many universities in Brazil and worldwide. This could be avoided by the use of other research techniques. Students are refusing to participate in classes that use animals for experimentation due to awareness of the animal suffering. National and international legislation in the last decades has advanced toward the protection of animals used for research, but there are still many improvements to be made. As for the advances in the methods used in this line of work, substitutions are as follows: theory for procedure methods, exploratory instead of research, and hypothetical-deductive work for approach.