 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | The relationship between animals and humans is more complex today than ever before. In addition to the animals that have served as household pets, and the farm animals that have provided labor and food, countless monkeys, rabbits, rats, and cats have enabled modern scientists to treat and cure humanity's most devastating illnesses. This aspect of animal-human interaction has engendered a bitter enmity between animal rights activists and the biomedical researchers whose work depends on the use (and oftentimes the killing) of laboratory animals.
In An Odyssey with Animals, veterinarian and sleep researcher Adrian Morrison argues that humane animal use in biomedical research is an indispensable tool of medical science, and that efforts to halt such use constitute a grave threat to human health and wellbeing. The target of repeated acts of intimidation by anonymous animal rights activists because of his own research, Morrison is himself an animal advocate, and this volume is the culmination of his years spent negotiating the treacherous divide between a legitimate concern for animals and the importance of biomedical research. Drawing on the disciplines of philosophy, history, biology, and animal behavior, Morrison crafts a multi-faceted argument in favor of using animals humanely in research, the center of which is his staunch belief that human interests must be the primary concern of science and society. Along the way, Morrison delves into other human uses of animals in domains such as agriculture, hunting, and education, examining each use along with its philosophical, moral, and ecological implications. The result is a thought-provoking, intelligent and fair-minded discussion of a charged subject-- of the past and present of animals' relationships with humans, and how and why we should be able to use them as we do. |
Average Customer Rating:    couldn't finish the book... This book started out too philosophical, then became too scientific. After reading about 1/3 of the book, I skipped to the conclusion and returned the book to the library. I already knew the author's stance on animals from reading the jacket. I couldn't force myself to trudge through the boring details. Thoughtful analysis is what this issue needs Morrison has written a thoughtful book about a complex and difficult issue: where do humans stand in relation to animals? The title is apt because it is truly an odyssey: a long, wandering, and eventful journey.
I only wish that more people who find themselves entrenched in one or another point of view could step back and ask themselves penetrating questions about what they believe, and why they believe it. A Balanced and Nuanced Look at Animal Research Whether you are a researcher or a lay person, pro-research or pro-animal rights--or anywhere in between--this book will give you much to pause and consider. Despite having been personally harassed by extremists for years, his own lab destroyed by animal rights vandals, Morrison has written no polemic. Instead he uses these attacks as a jumping off point from which to delve into the issues that surround human use of animals. In doing so, he uncovers layers of nuance in a debate notorious for its polarization.
Morrison brings a multi-faceted perspective to the debate: he is a pet-lover, a farm-boy, a veterinarian, a research scientist, and even a clinical research trial volunteer. Over the last 15 years, he has made a methodical study of the animal rights issue--its history, its messages, and the many schools of thought within and around it.
Morrison offers a strong and convincing case for animal research. He describes the specific role animal research has played in his own research into REM sleep as well as in many historical discoveries. He then systematically refutes both scientific distortions and philosophical presumptions of the animal rights movement.
He does not, however, let researchers off the hook. He encourages his fellow scientists to avoid dismissing all advocates for animals out of hand, lest they disregard legitimate welfare recommendations as efforts to stymie discovery. Morrison supports the humane use of animals, but only so long as we remember our responsibility to them.
He makes his own views clear, along with his reasoning for them, while leaving room for readers to come to their own, likely divergent, decisions. No matter where you eventually fall in the debate yourself, reading _Odyssey_ will enrich your understanding of a difficult and complex issue and add depth to whatever conclusions you draw.
complete sham The bottom line of this book is that A. Morrison is a vivisector who desperately wants to carry on vivisecting , whilst trying to convince both himself and the reader that he's a compassionate animal lover, who has their best interests at heart- what an oxymoron.
The sooner 'researchers' like Morrisson change their mindset and accept that animals exist for their own reasons,and not for exploitation by humans, the better off we'll all be - animals, humans and medical science.
Animals, because they would no longer be stolen or sourced from pounds, captured in the wild, or specially bred to be caged and tortured in labs. Veterinary medicine would be completely ethical- research only on cadavers, tissue and sick animals.
Humans, because we are always the first guinea pigs.
(Disasters such as thalidomide, Vioxx & TN1412,(the tip of the iceberg)appeared'safe' for humans after animals were given massive doses.)Safe & effective medicines & treatments result from clinical trials, and prolonged usage in human populations.
Medical science, because scientists would be forced to stop wasting precious resources and develop and use methods directly applicable to humans.
Morrison not only wants researchers to be able use animals for their own ends under the pretext of saving mankind, but also the public's blessing.
Like so many of his kind, Morrison gives absolutely no mention of the many researchers, scientists, doctors and health workers who are totally opposed to vivisection on scientific as well as moral grounds, giving the (intentional) impression that it is unreasonable animal rights activists and extremists who are against it.
Anyone seriously interested in improving public health would be happy to engage and work with them in order to move medical research forward. But no, they arrogantly cling onto their outdated methods and entrenched beliefs.
What a sham.
Reflections of a retired professor I have closely followed the animal research debate for many years since serving as a professor in the school of dentistry at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1970s and 80s. I am staggered by the depth and breadth of thought that has factored into Adrian Morrison's well-reasoned position on the interface of biological research utilizing laboratory animals, bioethics and the animal rights and welfare movement. This treatise is erudite, thorough and beautifully written. I am far better informed and enlightened by having read this gem of a book. It is breathtaking to watch a neuroscientist temporarily step out of a lifetime in the laboratory to transcend the realm of other brilliant and accomplished scientists to join the ranks of a wholly different academy of scholars i.e., philosophers. This is a monumental work and a must read for anyone who has ever worked with laboratory animals in the past or someone who is contemplating utilizing laboratory animals in their current research. Dr. Morrison emphasizes that to do so is a decision that should not and cannot be taken lightly. His suggested ethical tests for justifying the use of laboratory animals in biological research can serve as a beacon for young scientists trying to find their way on this poorly illuminated and tortuous path.
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