There was an article in the New York Post lately about covid vaccine being delayed because of a monkey shortage. Apparently these monkeys are shipped out from China and used for drug-testing before being killed. China has weak animal protection laws so it is easy for them to breed animals in captivity there.
This got me thinking - do I really want to take a drug or vaccine that has been tested on creatures that cannot give informed consent? I keep thinking of those gross photos of rooms full of dogs smoking in cages. So far I've just been looking at the list of ingredients in a drug or vaccine - that no animal has been used or harmed. But now I'm thinking that I should also look at the testing process. If some helpless animal has been sacrificed or used to test it, how can I ethically accept the drug or vaccine?
This got me thinking - do I really want to take a drug or vaccine that has been tested on creatures that cannot give informed consent? I keep thinking of those gross photos of rooms full of dogs smoking in cages. So far I've just been looking at the list of ingredients in a drug or vaccine - that no animal has been used or harmed. But now I'm thinking that I should also look at the testing process. If some helpless animal has been sacrificed or used to test it, how can I ethically accept the drug or vaccine?