I’m a big animal advocate so try to eat meat as little as possible (maybe once a month?) and only drink to plant-based milks (i love oat milk!).
In my past, I used to go fishing quite a lot but catching fish using a hook and rod is very sustainable. It also showed me where my food came from as I would have to prepare the fish to eat it. I think if people are to eat meat, they should be ready to prepare the animal.
Luckily my research doesn’t involve animals – i look at phytoplankton which are single-celled plants of the sea. But some are half-way between plants and animals and I do have to preserve these samples to study them which means killing the cells.
Although no animal is involved in my work, you can be assured that it is very difficult for them to be harmed. In the UK there are a series of laws that regulate how animals have to be treated both on farms and in laboratories. Scientists who work with animals have to receive special training that depends on the type of animal and also review the permits they have from time to time.
In addition, before carrying out any type of experiment involving animals, a series of permits must be requested, and an ethics committee must pass, which is responsible for assessing whether or not this experiment is necessary and the conditions in which it is to be carried out. Without these permits, it is practically impossible to do an investigation that involves animals.
Even with all this, I do not believe that any researcher wants to harm a living being.
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