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The “Grim Good” of Animal Research

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Futuristic medicine is here. A paralyzed man was able to move his own arm using electrodes implanted in his brain and arm. From the Sky News story:

Bill Kochevar, 56, was paralysed below his shoulders in a cycling accident eight years ago but can now grasp and lift objects after having two pill-sized electrodes implanted in his brain.

The electrodes record the activity of brain neurons to generate signals that tell another device to stimulate muscles in the paralysed limb.

During trials held at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, Mr Kochevar raised a mug of water to his lips and drank from a straw… Mr Kochevar, from Cleveland, said…”For somebody who’s been injured eight years and couldn’t move, being able to move just that little bit is awesome to me.”

Fabulous!

This wonderful success story required researchers engaging in what I call the “grim good” of animal research, including conducting experiments on monkeys over many years to test safety and methodology.

So to those animal rights activists who continually lie by claiming we receive no material benefit from research on monkeys and other animals, and to the more radical among them who harass and threaten researchers and their families for conducting experiments using monkeys, mice, rats, and other animals in order to help suffering mankind: Pfffft!

Image credit: Case Western Reserve University, via Science Daily.

Cross-posted at The Corner.

Wesley J. Smith

Chair and Senior Fellow, Center on Human Exceptionalism
Wesley J. Smith is Chair and Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism. Wesley is a contributor to National Review and is the author of 14 books, in recent years focusing on human dignity, liberty, and equality. Wesley has been recognized as one of America’s premier public intellectuals on bioethics by National Journal and has been honored by the Human Life Foundation as a “Great Defender of Life” for his work against suicide and euthanasia. Wesley’s most recent book is Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine, a warning about the dangers to patients of the modern bioethics movement.

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activistsanimal researchanimal rightsCase Western ReservemonkeysSky News