Amazon.co.uk Review
Biological experimentation, writes science journalist Deborah Rudacille in
The Scalpel and the Butterfly, has long been the province of a scientific elite that has not much cared to explain its work to the larger public. That public, she continues, has responded with a kind of don't-ask, don't-tell policy "whereby society will permit animal experimentation--and certain types of research on human subjects--as long as it is protected from the details". With the rise of the Animal Liberation Movement and PETA, however, that unstated policy has increasingly come into question, and research scientists have found it ever more difficult to employ animals (or humans, for that matter) in their work.
In her engaging and illuminating study of these clashing sensibilities, Rudacille ponders troubling questions. Does an elevation in the moral status of animals, she asks, necessarily mean degradation in the moral status of human beings? (Certainly, she responds, this appears to have been the case under Nazi Germany.) Is the killing of laboratory animals--nearly 10,000 in the case of the Salk vaccine against polio--justifiable in the face of the human lives that can be saved? Is it ethical to use the mentally ill as research subjects in studies that may yield cures for their illness? Philosophical landmines surround every attempt at an answer, and Rudacille takes pains to consider all sides of these and kindred issues. Her thoughtful work should provoke reflection and discussion. --Gregory McNamee
Review
"Rudacille uses impeccably researched material to take readers from the earliest days of animal-rights activism to the present.... In the final chapter, the author embarks on a productive discussion of ways the animal-rights controversy could be resolved." - Rebecca Skloot, Chicago Tribune "We are entering a new era in the question of animal rights. Nowhere is this extremely important issue more cogently discussed than in The Scalpel and the Butterfly. Those who believe, as I do, that animals have rights far beyond those that we at present accord them should arm themselves with the information in this valuable book." - Elizabeth Marshall Thomas "In this excellent exploration of the conflict between animal protection and animal research, the author resolutely resists simplistic answers.... By showing the spectrum of possible views between the moral absolutism of one camp and the unrepentant materialism of the other, this valuable book suggests a vast ground for compromise." - The New Yorker "U.S. scientists experiment on 14 million animals a year. Do health and safety benefits to humans justify the suffering of animals? Deborah Rudacille addresses the issue with fairness and respect to both science and its critics." - Rob Mitchell, Boston Globe "Must reading for biomedical researchers and indeed for anyone concerned about the ethics of human and animal experimentation. Rudacille is fair to both camps - she exposes both the merits and the weaknesses of the animal rights advocates and of the researchers, and tellingly recounts changes in our attitudes over time that dramatically illustrate the need for open minds and the willingness to change behavior when warranted by the evidence. - Louis Lasagna, Tufts University School of Medicine
