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Sociology announces a moratorium on animal testing
Courtney Kaminski
Issue date: 3/14/07 Section: News
Recently, the department of sociology at Brock University, along with the masters program in Social Justice and Equity studies, declared a moratorium on all research involving animals within the department, until the issue of vivisection at Brock can be investigated further.
This cessation of animal research within the department was spawned partially because of a recent incident involving pictures featuring animal testing at Brock that were posted on the Brock University Web site. Photos of mice involved in research at Brock were posted on the psychology department's Web site. The photos featured rats being housed in very small Tupperware-like containers.
"I became aware of the photographs when they were brought to my attention by a student that was very distressed about the treatment of animals used in research at Brock," said John Sorenson, a professor in the department of sociology.
"I have heard similar concerns from students every year. In this situation a student showed me photographs of students in the psychology lab holding rats in small Tupperware-like containers. A number of other students also saw these photographs and expressed their concern and I understand that as soon as the news got out the photos disappeared from the psychology Web site, once people started to talk about them."
It was after this that a moratorium was proposed with the department voting unanimously to end all animal research until the issue could be looked at more closely. Following their lead, the masters program for Social Justice and Equity Studies also declared an end to their animal research.
The objectives stated within the moratorium include that "all information involving research on animals be made open to public scrutiny, including the names of researchers, numbers of animals used, procedures, conditions of animals, objectives and rationales of the use of the animals and results" and "that any future research be undertaken with the same level of ethical standards that are applied to research with human subjects and that a principle of 'no harm' to all research subjects, regardless of species, be adopted".
This cessation of animal research within the department was spawned partially because of a recent incident involving pictures featuring animal testing at Brock that were posted on the Brock University Web site. Photos of mice involved in research at Brock were posted on the psychology department's Web site. The photos featured rats being housed in very small Tupperware-like containers.
"I became aware of the photographs when they were brought to my attention by a student that was very distressed about the treatment of animals used in research at Brock," said John Sorenson, a professor in the department of sociology.
"I have heard similar concerns from students every year. In this situation a student showed me photographs of students in the psychology lab holding rats in small Tupperware-like containers. A number of other students also saw these photographs and expressed their concern and I understand that as soon as the news got out the photos disappeared from the psychology Web site, once people started to talk about them."
It was after this that a moratorium was proposed with the department voting unanimously to end all animal research until the issue could be looked at more closely. Following their lead, the masters program for Social Justice and Equity Studies also declared an end to their animal research.
The objectives stated within the moratorium include that "all information involving research on animals be made open to public scrutiny, including the names of researchers, numbers of animals used, procedures, conditions of animals, objectives and rationales of the use of the animals and results" and "that any future research be undertaken with the same level of ethical standards that are applied to research with human subjects and that a principle of 'no harm' to all research subjects, regardless of species, be adopted".
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wordster
posted 3/14/07 @ 10:31 AM EST
Kudos to the sociology department and masters program in Social Justice and Equity studies,at Brock University, who've declared a moratorium on all research involving animals. (Continued…)
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