Policy Paper overview

Since my topic is animal testing, the law that I am trying to pass for my policy paper bans most testing on chimpanzees. Because chimps are so similar to humans, I am trying to make an arguement that it is even more crutial to ban animal testing on chimps than it would be for say example rats. Although I believe that animal testing in general is cruel, I had to narrow down my idea to make a complex law for my policy paper.

Studies have been done researching and dealing with chimpanzees, and in one of my recent blogs, I posted a link dealing with a scientist who actually taught a chimp sign language, and the scientist was actually able to "communicate" with the chimp. Examples like this are prime moral reasons why testing on chimps should be banned. Most people are in agreement that testing medicines and drugs on humans before they are approved or found to be safe is unlawful, so if chimpanzees are almost exactly genetically similar, and are also capable of "communicating" with us, how is it moral or lawful to test medicines and drugs on chimps?

After my meeting with Robson yesterday, I am very excited to restart my policy paper with new information. I am also looking forward to finding interesting research for the background of my policy which I will be able to use to back up my actual law that I am attempting to enfore. The main area that I am worried about in my paper is my ability to cover all of the areas necessary for the policy paper, and to still present a strong case nonetheless.

My thoughts on "Never Let Me Go"

In the book, the Hailsham students are told about sex, but they are also told that they are incapable of having children. I think this would cause a great deal of confusion for the kids being that they are only young teenagers. Most of them begin to experiment with sex, and Kathy starts to think that she has to "find a guy" to have that type of experience with before she leaves Hailsham.

I found the section we recently read a bit shocking at the way the students so openly talked about sex and the fact that they couldn't have kids. Most of the students' attitudes toward sexuality is that it is an interaction with someone special, but most of them thought it was something that deserved approval. Couples bragged about having sex, yet only two people had actually been caught in the act. Most students wanted to have "experience" before leaving Hailsham, so that when they found someone special outside of Hailsham, they'd be prepared.

Most students are probably slightly upset that they are not able to have children, but a few take it as meaning they can have sex as much as they want without worrying about kids. I think Kathy secretly wants children because she sings the song "Never let me go..." and she thinks about how a mother was told she couldn't have kids, but had one anyway because of a mircale. And the mother sings the song while holding her baby close.

"Project Washoe" Chimp and Scientist

Prof. Robson gave me an idea for a topic, and this is a really cool site that I found for an article on the topic! http://www.animal-rights-library.com/texts-m/fouts01.htm

I think it's fascinating that a scientist was able to "communicate" with a chimp through sign language... what a neat way for research! :)

After my conference today, I found out that I needed to narrow my paper quite a bit. Instead of covering animal testing as a whole, I am only focusing on the drugs or products that were testing in animals, were thought to be safe, and then were found to be dangerous in humans. Posted is a site I found for some of my information on Thalidomide: www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/thalidomide/effects.html , a medication that was tested on animals and thought to be safe, but when it was used on humans, severe side effects and birth defects occurred.

ugh

I have found a lot of sites for animal testing, but finding "legitimate" sites has been difficult without paying for or subscribing to various associations... My first draft didn't go so well, and I had difficulties rewriting my second draft with better sources. Hopefully, I'll be able to find some before the final draft, so I can actually have a halfway decent opinion paper.

Starting info on opinion paper...

This weekend I randomly looked for information dealing with testing medicines on animals. Surprisingly, I found a great deal of valuable information. The tricky part will be sorting through all of the information and narrowing important details to form the outline for my paper. The library tour that we did in class on Friday was very helpful, though, and the demonstrations even dealt specifically with "animal testing" so I was able to obtain useful information.

Beginning...

I officially decided that I am already stressing about this Bioethics class, and I'm really worried about getting everything done on time. I think it's going to be a hard and demanding class, and I'm a little scared :S