I think the worst thing I've ever done was work in a neuroscience lab that experimented on animal subjects. The research output was practically worthless and the protocols were ghastly.
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Even there, discounting plant welfare, opportunity costs abound for wild animals forced off land It's pretty bleak I'm not optimistic about human ability to live without causing suffering, but we probably have an obligation to minimize it proximately and/or marginally
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My experiments consisted of removing bird skull tops, inserting circuits, and replacing skull with cement so the bird could be wired to a neural monitor Some birds also had tubes inserted into their lungs to measure air pressure Skull caps and tubes often became detached
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Sometimes in these circumstances it was possible to reattach the apparatus with emergency surgery, but usually we gave up and decapitated the bird over a sink. A quick death was probably better than going on in that condition, honestly.
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Other birds were used for cytological studies. This required brain slices; birds were obviously killed for this. However. The stain we used would bind to blood, so birds had to be exsanguinated.
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The easiest way to do this was to let the bird's heart pump blood out wholesale, so we'd anaesthetize them then slice open their chest, making sure to sever the aorta. Probably painless, but we would go home and drink in the dark after this procedure.
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Being personally unable to do this is not a reason to support a ban on it. Animal research is vital. I don't think anything but mortal terror could make me kill something with my own hands, but I'll be damned if I stop eating cheeseburgers.
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I *was* able to do it, and did. I don't think it was justified. Benefits outside of "this lab continues to get grants" were zero.
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If the research is vital, pay humans to participate. We're a better model for other humans anyway.
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