beingsandaresusceptibletothesameinfluencesasanyother
human beings. Theylike to get on in their careers, to be
promoted,andtohavetheirworkreadanddiscussedbytheir
colleagues
.Publishingpapersintheappropriatejournalsisanimportant
elementintheriseuptheladderofpromotionandincreased
prestige.Thishappensineveryfield,inphilosophyorhistory
as much as in psychology or medicine, and it is entirely
understandable and in itself hardly worth criticizing. The
philosophers and historians who publish to improve their
career prospects do little harm beyond wasting paper and
boring their colleagues; those whose work involves
experimentingonanimals,however,cancauseseverepainor
prolongedsuffering.Theirworkshouldthereforebe subject
to much stricter standards of necessity.
Thegovernmentagenciesin theUnitedStates,Britain,and
elsewhere that promote research in the biological sciences
havebecomethemajorbackersofexperimentsonanimals.
Indeed,publicfunds,derivedfromtaxation,havepaidforthe
vast majorityof theexperiments describedin this chapter.
Manyoftheseagenciesarepayingforexperimentsthathave
onlytheremotestconnectionswiththepurposesforwhichthe
agenciesweresetup.IntheprecedingpagesIhavedescribed
experimentsthatwerefundedbytheUnitedStatesNational
Institutes of Health, theAlcohol, Drug Abuseand Mental
HealthAdministration,theFederalAviationAdministration,
theDefense Department,the National Science Foundation,
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and
others.ItisnoteasytounderstandwhytheU.S.Armyshould
be paying for a study of the urine spreading patterns of
heated,druggedratsorwhytheU.S.PublicHealthService