Top speakers visit Warwick debating panel

**Warwick Debating Union hosted the debate ‘This House would Ban Animal Testing’ in collaboration with Warwick Animal Ethics Union last Thursday.**

The event consisted of a specialist panel with Dr Andew Knight, author of the The Costs and Benefits of Animal Experiments and Dr Adrian Stallwood, scientific consultant for Animal Aid, (the UK’s largest animal rights group) proposing the motion.

Speaking for the opposition were Professor Mike Barer, College Director of Research at University of Leicester and Mr. John Meredith, Education Manager at Understanding Animal Research.

Dr. Judy Macarthur Clark, Head of the Animals in Science Regulation Unit at the Home Office was also present, acting as the Expert Commentator providing an introduction to the issue as well as clarification on contentious issues.

Each panellist gave two powerful speeches at the beginning and the end of the general debate with the motion eventually falling. Points such as the consciousness of animals as well as the reliability of results with animal testing were discussed.

Many students were enthusiastic about the debate such as Holly Moorhouse, a second year Classical Archaeology and Ancient History student.

“I thought it was a great debate and I voted differently to what I thought I would in the end”, she said.

However not everyone was entirely satisfied, with one Matthew Chester, a first year, Biomedical Science student commenting: “ I would have liked to have had equal emphasis on the philosophical side of the debate as well as the scientific.”

The first debate of term two received a high turnout with 124 people attending. Akash Sharma, a third year PAIS student and organiser of the event commented that he was “very pleased and encouraged by the amount of people who turned up.”

A large cohort of students came to the event from a variety of years with offering different reasons for their attendance. Third-year PAIS student Akash Mukerji gave this reason for his interest in the debate: “I’m pretty decided on where I stand but want to find out more about the scientific side of the issue.”

However others were less certain of their views and looked to the debate to help them reach a decision, such as first-year PPE student Connor Woodman: “I’m a vegetarian who is concerned about animal testing but am unsure of where I stand.”

The speakers were impressed with the organisation and professionalism of the debate. Dr Stallwood commented: “I would be happy to return to Warwick again and was incredibly pleased by the professional handling of the debate.”

With 3.8 million experiments involving animal testing going on each year in the UK, this debate was on what can best be described as a very contentious issue, however, all of the panellists were unanimous in their adamance against animal testing for cosmetic purposes, as well as agreeing that in an ideal world animal testing would not be necessary.

There is a further opportunity to explore the issue of animal rights at a talk by Dr Knight on the ‘Human Teaching Methods in Biomedical Education on Tuesday 29 January in S0.17.