Gursikhi's Stance On Animal Testing

[Guest lowest of the low singhni]

vaheguru ~

i was reading an article on the animal testing debate, and was thinking about sikhi's view on it in relation to medical research/ethics, when sometimes animal testing seems like the best way forward. i was trying to find some gurbani quotes relating to animals and a few came up which i'll give links to below. (it's best to read the entire shabad for the full context). in many places Guru Saheb SEEMS to contradict Himself but these apparent contradictions can be understood at certain stages of a person's jeevan. i'm not at one of those stages which is why i'm posting this in the hope that a gursikh can clarify.

in some places animals are referred to as being inferior to humans - they don't have choices in life or voices to jap Naam etc and sometimes manmukhs are compared to being 'only animals' :

http://www.sikhitothemax.com/page.asp?ShabadID=770

in other places there are references to animal cruelty:

http://www.sikhitothemax.com/page.asp?ShabadID=10002

and how those who are cruel to animals are sinners, but can be saved with Guru Saheb's kirpa:

http://www.sikhitothemax.com/page.asp?ShabadID=3000

but animals are also found to speak in their own 'loving tongues' suggesting their high worth:

http://www.sikhitothemax.com/page.asp?ShabadID=5923

there are many more quotes, these are just a few. obviously sikhs are vegetarians and don't eat animals either. and nothing really gives us the right to experiment with other beings, even if they are 'inferior'. it's not like the animals are giving us consent to experiment with them. but what other methods could we use to develop new medicines etc? this might bring up the debate about whether a gursikh needs medicine or not - "sarab rog ka aukhad naam" - but not every person in the world is a gursikh. and that's another topic.

i don't know if i've made any sense at all, and if you've given up reading by this point then no worries. if anyone can help clear the confusion then that would be good. thanks.

~l~

( if i offended anyone then please forgive me for your own good because we're meant to be forgiving. talking of forgiving, there was an article on the news today about forgiving murderers. it was interesting. there's going to be a series about the interviews between the murderers and the victims' families. here's the link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/4758802.stm )

[Khalsa4ever]

Waheguroo jee ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo jee kee Fateh!

Just to add to the discussion, do remember that our Guru sahibs used to hunt. Not for fun, but for "practice". So it seems that if done un-cruely and with a purpose, there may not be a strict ban.

Waheguroo jee ka Khalsa!

Waheguroo jee kee Fateh!

[singhnii♥]

personally, i think that if you wouldn't test those types of things on a person, why would you test it on an animal?

[Wicked Warrior]

Surely the purpose of testing medicines on animals is to look for significant side-effects before then trialing them on humans. Nobody knows the true side-effects of every drug beforehand, nor can it be easily predicted. Thus it is necessary for the development of Western medicines to test on animals.

Many vaccines, eg polio, mumps, measles were developed using animal testing. Medication like paracetamol and insulin were also developed in this way. Even things like pacemakers, and artificial hips etc were first tested on animals.

Diseases like measles would kill children. Without artificial hips, the elderly would be bed-ridden. Every time someone takes a Western medicine, bear in mind it has been tested on animals to see whether it was safe for humans to take.

[Pheena]

Some evils are necessary.

There have been just as many human testing as there have been animal perhaps not as much. Someone somewhere had to physically take some new experiental drug so that hundred of thousand could be saved.

Im not taking sides........it is what it is...a necessary evil.