The majority of Oxford students are in favour of the University
carrying out research on animals. A Cherwell opinion poll consulted students
from a range of subjects and colleges across the University. Almost 86% were in
favour of the using animals for research, 11.4% were not and 2.9% said they did
not know. Student opinion on the animal research facility on South Parks Road showed a similar pattern
of results: 84.8% said that the building should be completed, 10.4% that it
should not and 4.8% that they did not know. A spokeswoman said that the University
welcomed the findings of the survey “as a demonstration that students are
thinking carefully about the issue of animal research.” She added, “While there
was no directconsultation with students on the
[animal research] policy, many of those involved in drawing up the policy
teach, and research alongside, student members. Surveys and articles in the
student media are one way of the University continuing a dialogue on this
important issue with its student members.”The survey has prompted reactions
from both sides of the animal research debate. Adolfo Sansolini, the Chief Executive
of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection said, “We are
disappointed to see that the brightest stars of tomorrow, students at Oxford University,
according to this poll are still wedded to the animal model despite evidence
that it is failing, irrelevant and outmoded.” Edward Higbee, a student at St Edmund
Hall, told Cherwell, “Of course the University should
continue to carry out animal research. First, because it is essential for
medical progress, and second, because we cannot allow ourselves to be
threatened by the terrorists who burnt the boathouses and damaged University property.”Of 1,100 students contacted by Cherwell, 210 took part in the survey.
This is the first time that Oxford
University students have
had the opportunity for their views on the University’s animal research policy
to be heard. Just over one in ten students said they were against animal
research at Oxford Matthew Treece, a student at Keble, said, “I for one do not
believe for a second that most animal experiments are anywhere near to being
necessary… The University is up its own arse, and thinks it can dictate to its
lowly undergraduates what they will and will not think, which is really rather
shocking.” A spokeswoman for the Research Defence
Society, Barbara Davies, said, “Oxford University has a proud tradition in
medical research which spans the development of penicillin in 1940 right up to
the surgical technique of deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease sixty
years later: both these developments depended crucially on animals. The new
research centre will not only further such research, but will provide top class
facilities for the animals, an aspect that the animal rights extremists
apparently choose to ignore.”The University predicts that 98%
of the animals housed in the new animal research facility on South Parks Road will be rodents and
fish. In addition, there may also be some amphibians, ferrets, rabbits and,
most controversially, primates. The new building will bring about the closure
of several animal facilities currently dispersed throughout the science area. At
the moment the construction of the biomedical research building has stalled
because of the activities of animal rights protesters. A University spokeswoman
said, “The University remains totally committed to this project, but for
security reasons we are unable to discuss when work will resume.”Responses to the survey varied
widely. Some were flippant: “All animals die. So what?” Others were philosophical:
“Kantianism for human beings – Utilitarianism for animals!”One respondent commented that the
questions used in the survey were worded too narrowly. Though the survey
contained no mention of them, a large proportion of students responded with
strong views about animal rights extremists. Many said that the arson of the
Longbridges boathouses by the Animal Liberation Front had only served to
increase their support for the University’s animal research policy.ARCHIVE: 6th week MT 2005
Students back animal testing
