bureaucraticand legislativesystem) wereactuallya partof
the problem.^99
DonBarnes,whoaswesawhada similarchangeofmind
abouthisworkirradiatingtrainedmonkeysfortheU.S.Air
Force,callstheprocessUlrichdescribes“conditionedethical
blindness.”Inotherwords,justasaratcanbeconditionedto
pressaleverinreturnforarewardoffood,soahumanbeing
can be conditioned by professional rewards to ignore the
ethical issues raised by animal experiments. As Barnes says:
I represented a classic example of what I choose to call
“conditionedethicalblindness.”Myentirelifehadconsisted
ofbeingrewardedforusinganimals,treatingthemassources
ofhumanimprovementoramusement....Duringmysixteen
years in the laboratory the morality and ethics of using
laboratoryanimals wereneverbroachedineither formalor
informalmeetings priortomy raisingtheissuesduringthe
waning days of my tenure as a vivisector.^100
Itisnotonlytheexperimentersthemselveswhosufferfrom
conditioned ethical blindness. Research institutions
sometimesanswercriticsbytellingthemthattheyemploya
veterinarian to look after theanimals. Such statementsare
supposedtoprovidereassurance,becauseofthewidespread
beliefthatallveterinariansarepeoplewhocareaboutanimals
andwouldneverletthemsufferunnecessarily. Regrettably,
thisisnotthecase.Nodoubtmanyveterinariansdidgointo
thefieldbecausetheycaredaboutanimals,butitisdifficult
for people whoreally care aboutanimals to go through a
courseofstudyinveterinarymedicinewithouthavingtheir
sensitivitytoanimalsufferingblunted.Thosewhocaremost