Animal research has been dogged by many ethical issues, with many animal rights campaigners questioning the wisdom of using animals in research. One such case was uncovered at Columbia University in 2003. In this particular case, baboons were being used to conduct research into treatment for stroke cases. The baboons were caged and experiments carried out through performing surgery on the animals. Some of the animals also had their eyeballs removed to provide specimen for the research.
However, animal research activists uncovered systematic abuse of the animals in the course of conducting the research. This raised serious ethical issues regarding the treatment of the animals. According to these activists, adequate care in alleviating pain was not provided to the baboons. They were neglected in pain after the surgery and no anesthesia was administered to them during or after the surgery. Video evidence provided during an inquiry into this specific cases showed one baboon suffering under the weight of a metallic cylinder tied to its head. So systematic and terrifying were the abuses to these animals that some of them had ripped off their fingers to avoid being used in the research. There were also no proper records kept at the research facility.
In most medical researches, animals are preferred. However, the pain and stress experienced by the animal calls to question the wisdom of using animals in research. It is therefore crucial that research should only be carried out after carefully weighing the benefits of the research against other ethical issues. In this particular case, conducting research into stroke treatment was clearly necessary. However, the researchers should have taken greater care into minimizing the suffering of the baboons. There should have been better pre and post operative procedures to minimize the pain.
