Ethical challenges of genetic manipulation and research with animals

Abstract

Research with animals presents ethical questions both for being used as models of human diseases and for being a prerequisite for trials in humans, as in the introduction of genetic modifications. Some of these questions refer to the fact that, as models, they do not fully represent the human condition; that conducting toxicity tests causes great harm to animals; that their nature is altered by genetic modifications and that introducing genetically modified organisms is a risk. The use of animals in research for the benefit of humans imposes the moral responsibility to respect them, not making them suffer unnecessarily, since they are living beings capable of feeling.