Toronto Star Article

I was quoted today in the Toronto Star, a major Canadian newspaper. It did a good job of reporting the view that animal research does not work, highlighting the views of Dr. Ray Greek. They did not quote my views on the ethics, but Dr. Greek eloquently detailed the suffering of monkeys at my alma mater, the University of Toronto, which Dr. Barry Sessle was in denial about. For the full article, please see LINK.

A Message of Hope

A friend and comrade expressed some despair in the face of evil (as opposed to good or indifferent) vivisection and a media that pitched in to support them, plus an actively ignorant public. I wrote to him:

Hope is stronger than cynicism.

Love is stronger than hate.

Wisdom is stronger than foolery.

Good faith shall overcome dark despair.

But that is in the long-term.

It takes a lot of short-terms.

Please see my article, "Coping with Animal Rights Stress," from this listing at:



LINK

It addresses these issues in a way.

This will also give you a taste of my newly revamped web site!

As someone said in an anonymous proverb: "It's always darkest before the dawn."

Vancouver Sun Cites My Analysis of CCAC

The Canadian Council on Animal Care is a sham testing of animal testing. See my article here from my website.

The Sun cited my work in an article on Wednesday, March 14, 2012. It is called, "UBC animal research needs to meet a higher standard," by Diane Alfred, Vancouver Sun staff.

Ontario Human Rights Commission Paper Update

I am pleased to announce that although I was concerned I would not be able to get across many of my points about vegan creeds in the short presentation-time that everyone is allotted, that concern has effectively evaporated. I was just yesterday asked, by a senior organizer at the Commission, for permission to distribute copies of my paper to participants in the policy conference on creed and human rights which I blogged about a couple of articles ago. That would allow for a much-enhanced chance to get across my pro-vegan/animal rights message to participants, who include, I imagine, policy-makers such as judges, jurists, lawyers, and politicians. Actually, my paper will be of no less interest to some Buddhists and other more philosophical creed-holders, although I myself am not a Buddhist. I am very thankful for this opportunity. I have yet to become acquainted with any of the organizers, and look forward to that experience.

Redoing of Web Site

Dear Readers,

I am pleased to report that my web site is being entirely redone by a very gifted webmaster. It is going to have a keener look, and will not be cluttered by chromatic inconsistencies, excessively lengthy article descriptions, and other issues. No more pop-up ads! I could not afford to pay for web space, being a veteran pauper (try being an animal ethicist when no institution in your area teaches it!). My old worry about running out of free web space on Tripod will be gone. And yes, ads altogether will be a thing of the past! How much more fitting that is for a philosophy page, where undisturbed contemplation is called for. And an anti-capitalist site, where huckster promotions become a vulgar intrusion. I cannot say how delighted I am with my friend and ally's work. I also cannot say who it is, as the person does not want the world to beat a path to his or her door requesting website assistance. But for whatever it is worth, this person has my undying gratitude.

Cheers,

David

Presentation on Vegan Creeds to a Policy Conference

I have just been invited to present at a joint conference of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and the Osgoode Hall Law School on creed and rights. I will be arguing that vegans deserve to be acknowledged as observing a creed or religion for legal purposes. This is significant in contexts such as vegans being served appropriate meals in hospitals and prisons, or having the right not to participate in vivisection or dissection at educational institutions. I answered their call for proposals for papers, and developed my essay once they signalled that they wished me to do so. It is a victory for animals to have the ear of Ontario policy-makers on a significant animal-rights-related issue. It is also a human rights issue. Indeed, my analysis has implications for exclusively human rights claims in relation to religious freedom, such as whether Sikh boys should be allowed to wear kirpans or ceremonial knives to school.

Here we see animal rights/vegan discourse being taken seriously by law-makers and policy people. Ultimately, we want to produce an animal rights discourse that will one day become translated into law. My topic is the definition of creed. In Canada, "religion" or "creed" (synonymous in at 1996 Ontario Human Rights Commission policy document) is not defined in The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, nor in the Ontario Human Rights Code. It is a pivotal issue for deciding who gets protection under freedom of religion. I will be speaking alongside just a few others on this central issue (others will be covering other problems), and am very honoured by being granted this opportunity by the policy analysts at the Commission and others involved in this two-day conference. The purpose of the gathering is explicitly to generate discussion that will lead to reform and modernizing of Canadian policy on these issues.

Anti-Vivisection Article Still Top-Rated

My essay, "A Living Will Clause for Supporters of Animal Experimentation," in The Journal of Applied Philosophy is still ranked #1 out of the top 20 articles in terms of article usage since my essay's publication in 2006. It is a worldwide ranking. A similar ranking was reported to me last year. This current finding was indicated to me by Dan Nielsen of BioMedLib.com, a search engine for biomedical academic articles. I'm glad that people are finding this to be useful. This is a very encouraging objective indicator, as opposed to the negativist, basically subjectivist garbage I predictably hear from Francionists. A short synopsis of the argument is provided on my website. This should also be considered an important sign that there is a very high interest in academic animal rights even as compared to the academic atrocity machine that is blandly labeled "scientific" animal experimentation.

The articles on animal experimentation and living wills are ranked as follows:

1. A living will clause for supporters of animal experimentation.
   Sztybel D:
   J Appl Philos; 2006;23(2):173-89
   
2. Ethical issue in animal experimentation].
   Parodi AL:
   Bull Acad Natl Med; 2009 Nov;193(8):1737-45; discussion 1746
   
3. [Animal experimentation, computer simulation and surgical research].
   Carpentier A:
   Bull Acad Natl Med; 2009 Nov;193(8):1747-55; discussion 1755-6
   
4. Is animal experimentation fundamental?
   d'Acampora AJ, Rossi LF, Ely JB, de Vasconcellos ZA:
   Acta Cir Bras; 2009 Sep-Oct;24(5):423-5
   
5. [Contribution of animal experimentation to pharmacology].
   Sassard J, Hamon M, Galibert F:
   Bull Acad Natl Med; 2009 Nov;193(8):1757-65; discussion 1766
   
6. Refining animal experiments: the first Brazilian regulation on animal experimentation.
   de A e Tréz T:
   Altern Lab Anim; 2010 Jun;38(3):239-44
   
7. Trends in animal experimentation.
   Monteiro R, Brandau R, Gomes WJ, Braile DM:
   Rev Bras Cir Cardiovasc; 2009 Dec;24(4):506-13
   
8. Animal experimentation in Japan: regulatory processes and application for microbiological studies.
   Takahashi-Omoe H, Omoe K:
   Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis; 2007 Jul;30(4):225-46
   
9. [What can a chair on alternatives to animal experimentation effectuate?].
   Leist M:
   ALTEX; 2006;23(3):211-3
   
10. [Alternatives to animal experimentation v.s. animal rights terrorism].
    Kurosawa TM:
    Yakugaku Zasshi; 2008 May;128(5):741-6
    
11. Physiology, propaganda, and pound animals: medical research and animal welfare in mid-twentieth century America.
    Parascandola J:
    J Hist Med Allied Sci; 2007 Jul;62(3):277-315
    
12. Alternatives to animal experimentation for hormonal compounds research.
    Penza M, Jeremic M, Montani C, Unkila M, Caimi L, Mazzoleni G, Di Lorenzo D:
    Genes Nutr; 2009 Sep;4(3):165-72
    
13. Enhancing search efficiency by means of a search filter for finding all studies on animal experimentation in PubMed.
    Hooijmans CR, Tillema A, Leenaars M, Ritskes-Hoitinga M:
    Lab Anim; 2010 Jul;44(3):170-5
    
14. Why do the numbers of laboratory animal procedures conducted continue to rise? An analysis of the Home Office Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals: Great Britain 2005.
    Hudson M:
    Altern Lab Anim; 2007 Mar;35(1):177-87
    
15. 15. Does a living will equal a DNR? Are living wills compromising patient safety?
    Mirarchi FL:
    J Emerg Med; 2007 Oct;33(3):299-305
    
16. [Developments in the area of animal experiments in biomedical research].
    Hendriksen CF:
    Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd; 2006 Dec 30;150(52):2857-62
    
17. [Animal experimentation in the discovery and production of veterinary vaccines].
    Audonnet JCh, Lechenet J, Verschuere B:
    Rev Sci Tech; 2007 Aug;26(2):443-9
    
18. A proposal of multiplace hyperbaric chamber for animal experimentation and veterinary use.
    Rech FV, Fagundes DJ, Hermanson R, Rivoire HC, Fagundes AL:
    Acta Cir Bras; 2008 Jul-Aug;23(4):384-90
    
19. Towards ethically improved animal experimentation in the study of animal reproduction.
    Blache D, Martin GB, Maloney SK:
    Reprod Domest Anim; 2008 Jul;43 Suppl 2:8-14
    
20. The regulation of animal research and the emergence of animal ethics: a conceptual history.
    Rollin BE:
    Theor Med Bioeth; 2006;27(4):285-304