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Does a Dog Have
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In the long run, this development may have a positive impact on how humans perceive non-human animals, and help to reduce the suffering of animals. In the meantime, however, there are concrete things you can do to help reduce the suffering of our fellow sentient beings. Every year, thousands of animals experience great suffering in the name of 'research.' It could be argued that a tiny handful of these research experiments have indeed benefited mankind. But there are countless thousands of instances of humans bringing needless suffering to bear on sentient animals. For example, many cosmetic products and household chemicals are 'tested for safety' for humans using procedures such as the infamous Draize test. In this test, the substance under investigation is put into the eye of a live, healthy rabbit, and left there. The degree to which the eye deteriorates is noted by the 'researcher,' and this data is used to determine how safe the product is for humans to use. |
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How would you like to have a drop of laundry detergent, hair spray, deodorant, or drain cleaner, put in your eye, and left there, untreated? Yet, every time you buy a product from a company that uses animals for product testing, you are supporting and endorsing barbaric practices like these. We Buddhists, who aspire to 'save all sentient beings from their suffering,' have plenty of alternatives to endorsing this kind of suffering. A number of the largest, best-known personal care product companies support animal-free, cruelty-free product safety testing. A list of those companies is available from the National Anti-Vivisection Society, P.O. Box A3728, Chicago, IL 60690-9528. Ask for their book, Personal Care For People Who Care, available for a donation of $6.95, plus $1.50 shipping and handling. The NAVS Dissection Hotline number is 1-800-922-FROG. Contact them for information and counseling about objecting to dissection. To place an order with their free loan program call 1-800-888-6287. |
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The class rooms of junior high schools and high schools all over
the country represent another area where you can reduce the suffering
of thousands of non-human animals. And, at the same time, you can
positively shape a young person's attitude toward respect for all life
forms. This can be done by supporting alternatives to the antiquated
practice of dissecting frogs, fish, and other creatures, as used to
teach school children the basics of biology.
Not only do take-apart, 3-dimensional plastic models such as this one teach physiology just as well—if not better—than dissection, they also avoid instilling the harmful viewpoint in an impressionable child that a living frog or a fish is just another disposable commodity item like paste or crayons. |
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If you want to support a program of loaning 3-D models and instructional videotapes to schools--to supplant dissection--call the National Anti-Vivisection Society's dissection hotline at 1-800-922-FROG. Or you can e-mail them at navs@navs.org. Their home page is at www.navs.org It's one small step—but a concrete one—toward a more compassionate world. After I made a recent donation to this cause, I received a very sincere, hand-written thank you note. This note read, in part, '(the Dissection Alternative Program) helps to instill compassion for all beings in a young person's mind'. 'Sentient beings without number, I vow to liberate.' . . . you can make a difference. |
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