animals wasprovidedby theVeterinary SciencesDivision,
USAF School of Aerospace Medicine.”
ThroughoutAmerica,veterinariansarestandingbyproviding
“routinecare”foranimalswhoarebeingneedlesslyabused.
Isthis whattheveterinaryprofessionstands for?(There is
somehopeforthevets,however,becauseaneworganization
ofveterinarianshasbeenestablished toprovidesupportfor
practitioners and students with ethical concerns about the
treatment of nonhuman animals.^103 )
Once a pattern of animal experimentation becomes the
acceptedmodeofresearchinaparticularfield,theprocessis
self-reinforcing and difficult to break out of. Not only
publicationsandpromotionsbutalso theawardsandgrants
thatfinanceresearchbecomegearedtoanimalexperiments.A
proposalforanewexperimentwithanimalsissomethingthat
theadministratorsofresearchfundswillbereadytosupport,
if they have in the past supported other experiments on
animals.Newmethodsthatdonotmakeuseofanimalswill
seem less familiar and will be less likely to receive support.
Allthishelpstoexplainwhyitisnotalwayseasyforpeople
outside theuniversities to understandthe rationale for the
research
carried out under university auspices. Originally, perhaps,
scholars and researchers just set out to solve the most
important problems and did not allow themselves to be
influencedbyotherconsiderations. Nodoubt somearestill
motivated by theseconcerns. Too often,though, academic
researchgetsboggeddowninpettyandinsignificantdetails
becausethebigquestionshavebeenstudiedalreadyandthey
have either been solved or proven too difficult. So the