Animal Testing: A Complex Ethical Dilemma

April 23 marks the International Day of Animal Testing, a day that highlights the ongoing ethical debates surrounding the use of animals in scientific research. Frank Kirchhoff, a leading figure in neuroscience, has publicly called on his colleagues to acknowledge their involvement in animal testing, echoing a feminist campaign from the 1970s.

Each year in Germany, over 3.5 million animals fall victim to laboratory experiments, with more than 60% of these tests conducted in basic research that yields no immediate benefits. Public trust in this practice is alarmingly low, as 84% of the population opposes animal testing. Although the previous government aimed to reduce the number of experiments, they failed to implement any effective regulations.

Kirchhoff dismisses the public's concerns about animal testing as misunderstandings, undermining well-founded ethical objections and reducing skepticism to an irrational stance. He notably utilizes a feminist narrative advocating for autonomy and self-determination, despite representing a scientific discipline reliant on the control and exploitation of living beings.

The eco-feminist movement has long criticized these power dynamics, illustrating how the oppression of both women and animals is intertwined with the exploitation of nature. Historically, the perception of emotionality and dependence has been used to justify the control of women and animals through a so-called rational science. This perspective divides life into manageable binary categories--subject and object, human and animal, male and female--illustrating a worldview that subjugates nature and particularly bodies associated with femininity.

Neuroscience, Kirchhoff's field, is particularly reliant on animal testing, and the mobilization against ethical constraints under the banner of research freedom is not coincidental. This situation presents science as a platform for maintaining the status quo, resisting alternatives that are already available. These alternatives include synthetic human skin, molecular techniques using human cells, and computer simulations of organs, all of which aim to create 'Human-on-a-Chip' technologies that closely replicate bodily processes.

Resistance to this shift has turned into a form of identity politics, as demonstrated by Kirchhoff's initiative. Feminist theory highlights how science has historically been constructed as male, rational, and objective, standing in opposition to the subjective and irrational characteristics attributed to femininity. The science theorist Evelyn Fox Keller described this masculine approach as a foundational structure in modern research, which persists in current methodologies, institutions, and power dynamics.

Critics of animal testing often face accusations of being anti-science. However, research indicates that over 90% of results from animal tests are not applicable to humans. Meanwhile, alternative methods that are human-relevant and free from animal use are consistently underfunded and lack a comprehensive legal framework that could promote their development as innovation catalysts in the highly discussed field of excellence clusters.