Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

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.