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It is difficult for me to imagine a justifiable reason for the stated research, and even more so for the method chosen to keep the test subject in the dark, but I will temper my outrage for the project in general in hopes there was in fact some dire need for this type of research and a positive result to the quality of live for someone at the end.
I am profoundly disturbed that a less damaging method of light deprivation was not employed. It is arguable that simply keeping their eyelids shut does not equate to light deprivation. While my eyelids are shut I can still perceive shadow and fluctuations in light intensity. It would have made more sense to keep the test subject in a room devoid of visible light and provide infrared technology to the scientists and workers in the room.
I am circumspect regarding the statement that " "more than 30" of the kittens involved were put down, as that indicates to me that some were not. What would be the rational for euthanizing some but not all of the kittens unless there was a detrimental outcome to the kittens health as a result of this experiment or the procedures used in the experiment.
I feel sorry for experimental test subjects anytime unpleasant treatment is involved, and more so when physical damage is caused the subjects. I do feel that experimentation may sometimes be justified for "important" causes, but am hard pressed to defend anything but final stage testing for life threatening disease treatment. I have not heard of any light deprivation epidemics around the world, however.
Harmful animal testing should only be allowed in a very few, very specific cases, such as when the knowledge gained would measurably improve human health and there is NO other way to gain that information. There are VERY few instances where it would be justified, and in those cases there should be very strict requirements for minimizing suffering.
Happens everyday in America. They bring chimps and dogs into pharma research facilities routinely. High security and razor wire to keep the PETA crowd out. The crappy job is chopping up limbs and extracting organs to see how a drug performed.
It's science. You aren't supposed to question science.
Obviously, you don't know much about science.
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