Animals are wonderful creatures, They are man's companions. They adorn his world, help in his work, furnish part of his food,
In the whole time span of the human and animal races, it is only yesterday that a new use has been found for animals. As objects of medical experimentation. To secure animals for research, medical schools have had to cope with protests from persons vehemently opposed to what they insist is cruel handling of the animals.
Medical men have contended, just as vehemently, that they give the animals as kind treatment as humans would get.
Medicine has backed its case with the most convincing kind of offer—to let a responsible agency, such as the SPCA, inspect the facilities for handling animals, and the treatment itself. That is the kind of offer now being made here, as LSU and Tulane medical schools seek to halt the useless destruction of 20,000 stray dogs a year at the city pound,
The medical schools want those ani-nals for research use, and they should nost certainly have them.
It was work involving animals that ed to development of:
Insulin treatment for diabetes. con
quest of polio by vaccine, discovery and function of vitamins, chemotherapy treatment for cancer, and many other medical breakthroughs.
If medical experimentation on animals should stop, there are only two alternatives:
Experimentation on human beings.
The end of experimentation on living things.
Part of traditional religious faith is the premise that everything is created for a purpose.
Each year about 20,000 dogs, unwanted strays, are put to death in the city pound. There is no ennobling purpose in that.
Medical experimentation on animals will not cease, of course. Some day the mysteries of the heart and the wherefores of cancerous cells will be solved.
Possibly, even probably because medical researchers worked with animals. There is a wondrous purpose in that.
