Humane issues surrounding decapitation reconsidered
| Autor: | George Bates |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: |
Mercy killing
Unconscious mind Forgetting Consciousness General Veterinary business.industry Brain Terminally ill Electroencephalography Environmental ethics Context (language use) Animal Welfare people.cause_of_death Euphemism Original meaning Euthanasia Animal Animals Laboratory Animals Medicine Anesthesia Decapitation business people |
| Zdroj: | Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. 237:1024-1026 |
| ISSN: | 0003-1488 |
| DOI: | 10.2460/javma.237.9.1024 |
| Popis: | The controversy surrounding the use of decapitation in biomedical research as a method of euthanasia for rodents has now largely faded from memory. But an intense debate about its humaneness was conducted in the pages of various professional journals in the 1970s 1,2 and 1980s 3–7 and into the 1990s. 8–10 Although the belief that decapitation is humane seems widely accepted within the scientific community, newer research findings challenge that view. Euthanasia means literally a good death. When used in terms of humans, the word ordinarily refers to mercy killing of the terminally ill; in the animal context, however, euthanasia is typically defined as a painless, stress-free death irrespective of the reasons for bringing that death about. 11 Unfortunately, over the years, the word has come to be used in biomedical research circles as roughly synonymous with killing or sacrificing laboratory animals for some higher purpose, without regard to the method. By forgetting the original meaning of euthanasia and using the term as an euphemism for simply killing animals used for biomedical research, the term has become debased. Therefore, it bears repeating that true euthanasia (ie, a good death) only occurs when an animal is painlessly rendered unconscious before its life is extinguished. Decapitation of unanesthetized, conscious animals has been and still is widely practiced in biomedical research. The reason generally given for use of this procedure is the need to obtain tissue samples not contaminated by chemical agents, injectable or inhalant, used in anesthesia. No accurate statistics are available on exactly how many laboratory animals are killed each year through decapitation, but the figure is likely sub stantial. 12 The historical debate surrounding decapitation has been recounted in detail. 12,13 |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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