ABSTRACT:

Is it ethically permissible to acquire biological materials from a slaughterhouse for biomedical research? This essay examines this question, using a recent, high-profile research program as a case study. Using roughly 300 decapitated pig heads acquired from a slaughterhouse, researchers reperfused the animals’ brains and observed a variety of cellular and molecular activities. The study was exempted from review and oversight by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), on the grounds that the animals were already dead. This essay argues that the IACUC was mistaken in exempting the study from their oversight, and furthermore, that acquiring animals or their parts from a slaughterhouse for research purposes is unethical and should not occur again. Examination of the study within a broader societal context helps to illuminate why each of us has an ethical obligation to do what we can to abolish the vicious and cruel treatment endured by billions of animals every year on factory farms and in slaughterhouses.

摘要：

从屠宰场获取生物材料用于生物医学研究在道德上是否允许？本文使用最近的一项备受瞩目的研究项目作为案例研究来研究这个问题。研究人员使用从屠宰场获得的大约 300 个断头猪头，对动物的大脑进行再灌注，并观察到各种细胞和分子活动。该研究不受机构动物护理和使用委员会 (IACUC) 的审查和监督，理由是动物已经死亡。本文认为 IACUC 将研究排除在其监督之外是错误的，此外，出于研究目的从屠宰场获取动物或其部分是不道德的，不应再次发生。