[yorkietalkjilly]

Animals serve humans in so many ways that are not fair to that animal. You see poor dogs having to go in and sniff out bombs or carry a camera into a place with a potential bomb in it, while the human officers/servicemen with families depending upon them stand back in relative safety. In war and combat, dogs are often sent into harm's way first. Police dogs are sent after men with guns to potentially save an officer. Those bombs or bad guys can and do hurt and maim those dogs in the name of "public and officer/serviceman safety". I rarely hear of outrage over putting those dogs in harm's way. They aren't treated as badly as lab dogs overall by far but they are still essentially guinea pigs, put at risk for mankind.

I know I would rest easier knowing that the medication I might be giving my little 4 week old infant has been tested for horrible side effects on a dog, pig or mouse rather than another poor little baby, which you no doubt could get in the third world in some situations! It is just one of the sad facts of life that some type of bio testing has to be done to keep vast numbers of other animals and humans safe.

And make no mistake about it, in teaching hospitals, humans without insurance are tested in new surgical, chemotherapy and medication protocols daily, very often with no knowledge or consent. It has long been a sad fact of life that those lessons learned on the indigent have helped every one of us. Do I support that? No, but that won't stop it. And you never could prove it but if you ever listen to doctors talking about their teaching hospital days you get an eye-opening course in what really goes on.

It is a sad and fallen world we live in and not fair to so many people and creatures. Where there is testing and experimentation, it should be done in only the most humane way possible, of course, and I believe in doing all we can to stop that labs and corps who allow it to happen otherwise. But I don't think we can even imagine how hazardous this life would be were medications and OTC pet and personal care items to be allowed to be marketed with only the limited testing you could get from paid volunteers.