Robot behaviour (bottom) modeled after that of a cockroach (top) and a gecko (middle).
Bionics or biologically inspired engineering is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology.
According to proponents of bionic technology, the transfer of technology
between lifeforms and manufactured objects is desirable because
evolutionary pressure typically forces living organisms--fauna and
flora--to become optimized and efficient. For example, dirt- and
water-repellent paint (coating) developed from the observation that
practically nothing sticks to the surface of the lotus flower plant (the lotus effect).
The term "biomimetic" is preferred for references to chemical reactions, such as reactions that, in nature, involve biological macromolecules (e.g., enzymes or nucleic acids) whose chemistry can be replicated in vitro using much smaller molecules.
Examples of bionics in engineering include the hulls of boats imitating the thick skin of dolphins; sonar, radar, and medical ultrasound imaging imitating animal echolocation.
It is estimated by Julian Vincent, professor of biomimetics at the University of Bath's Department of Mechanical Engineering, that "at present there is only a 12% overlap between biology and technology in terms of the mechanisms used".
History
The name "biomimetics" was coined by Otto Schmitt in the 1950s. The term "bionics" was coined by Jack E. Steele in August 1958 while working at the Aeronautics Division House at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
However, terms like biomimicry or biomimetics are more preferred in the
technology world in efforts to avoid confusion between the medical term
"bionics." Coincidentally, Martin Caidin used the word for his 1972
novel Cyborg, which inspired the series The Six Million Dollar Man. Caidin was a long-time aviation industry writer before turning to fiction full-time.
Methods
Velcro was inspired by the tiny hooks found on the surface of burs.
The study of bionics often emphasizes implementing a function found
in nature rather than imitating biological structures. For example, in
computer science, cybernetics tries to model the feedback and control mechanisms that are inherent in intelligent behavior, while artificial intelligence tries to model the intelligent function regardless of the particular way it can be achieved.
The conscious copying of examples and mechanisms from natural organisms and ecologies is a form of applied case-based reasoning, treating nature itself as a database of solutions that already work. Proponents argue that the selective pressure placed on all natural life forms minimizes and removes failures.
Although almost all engineering could be said to be a form of biomimicry, the modern origins of this field are usually attributed to Buckminster Fuller and its later codification as a house or field of study to Janine Benyus.
There are generally three biological levels in the fauna or flora, after which technology can be modeled:
In robotics, bionics and biomimetics are used to apply the way animals move to the design of robots. BionicKangaroo was based on the movements and physiology of kangaroos.
Velcro is the most famous example of biomimetics. In 1948, the Swiss engineer George de Mestral was cleaning his dog of burrs picked up on a walk when he realized how the hooks of the burrs clung to the fur.
The horn-shaped, saw-tooth design for lumberjack
blades used at the turn of the 19th century to cut down trees when it
was still done by hand was modeled after observations of a
wood-burrowing beetle. It revolutionized the industry because the blades worked so much faster at felling trees.
Cat's eye reflectors were invented by Percy Shaw in 1935 after studying the mechanism of cat eyes. He had found that cats had a system of reflecting cells, known as tapetum lucidum, which was capable of reflecting the tiniest bit of light.
Leonardo da Vinci's flying machines and ships are early examples of drawing from nature in engineering.
Resilin is a replacement for rubber that has been created by studying the material also found in arthropods.
Julian Vincent drew from the study of pinecones when he developed in 2004 "smart" clothing that adapts to changing temperatures. "I wanted a nonliving system
which would respond to changes in moisture by changing shape", he said.
"There are several such systems in plants, but most are very small –
the pinecone is the largest and therefore the easiest to work on".
Pinecones respond to higher humidity by opening their scales (to
disperse their seeds). The "smart" fabric does the same thing, opening
up when the wearer is warm and sweating, and shutting tight when cold.
"Morphing aircraft wings" that change shape according to the speed
and duration of flight were designed in 2004 by biomimetic scientists
from Penn State University.
The morphing wings were inspired by different bird species that have
differently shaped wings according to the speed at which they fly. In
order to change the shape and underlying structure of the aircraft
wings, the researchers needed to make the overlying skin also be able to
change, which their design does by covering the wings with
fish-inspired scales that could slide over each other. In some respects
this is a refinement of the swing-wing design.
Some paints and roof tiles have been engineered to be self-cleaning by copying the mechanism from the Nelumbo lotus.
Cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) are the thin-film material often used to fabricate fish tank thermometers or mood rings, that change color with temperature changes. They change color because their molecules are arranged in a helical or chiral arrangement and with temperature the pitch of that helical structure changes, reflecting different wavelengths of light. Chiral Photonics, Inc.
has abstracted the self-assembled structure of the organic CLCs to
produce analogous optical devices using tiny lengths of inorganic,
twisted glass fiber.
The wing structure of the blue morpho butterfly was studied and the way it reflects light was mimicked to create an RFID tag that can be read through water and on metal.
The wing structure of butterflies has also inspired the creation of new nanosensors to detect explosives.
Technoecosystems or 'EcoCyborg' systems involve the coupling of
natural ecological processes to technological ones which mimic
ecological functions. This results in the creation of a self-regulating
hybrid system. Research into this field was initiated by Howard T. Odum, who perceived the structure and emergy dynamics of ecosystems as being analogous to energy flow between components of an electrical circuit.
Medical adhesives involving glue and tiny nano-hairs are being developed based on the physical structures found in the feet of geckos.
Computer viruses
also show similarities with biological viruses in their way to curb
program-oriented information towards self-reproduction and
dissemination.
The cooling system of the Eastgate Centre building in Harare was modeled after a termite mound to achieve very efficient passive cooling.
Adhesive which allows mussels to stick to rocks, piers and boat hulls inspired bioadhesive gel for blood vessels.
Through the field of bionics, new aircraft designs with far greater
agility and other advantages may be created. This has been described by Geoff Spedding and Anders Hedenström in an article in Journal of Experimental Biology. Similar statements were also made by John Videler and Eize Stamhuis in their book Avian Flight and in the article they present in Science about LEVs.
John Videler and Eize Stamhuis have since worked out real-life
improvements to airplane wings, using bionics research. This research in
bionics may also be used to create more efficient helicopters or
miniature UAVs. This latter was stated by Bret Tobalske in an article in Science about Hummingbirds.
Bret Tobalske has thus now started work on creating these miniature
UAVs which may be used for espionage. UC Berkeley as well as ESA have
finally also been working in a similar direction and created the Robofly (a miniature UAV) and the Entomopter (a UAV which can walk, crawl and fly).
A bio-inspired mechanical device can generate plasma in water via
cavitation using the morphological accurate snapping shrimp claw. This
was described in detail by Xin Tang and David Staack in an article
published in Science Advances.
Induced sensorimotor brain plasticity controls pain in phantom limb patients-ncomms13209-s2
In medicine
Bionics refers to the flow of concepts from biology to engineering and vice versa. Hence, there are two slightly different points of view regarding the meaning of the word.
In medicine, bionics means the replacement or enhancement of organs or other body parts by mechanical versions. Bionic implants differ from mere prostheses by mimicking the original function very closely, or even surpassing it.
Bionics' German equivalent, Bionik, always adheres to the
broader meaning, in that it tries to develop engineering solutions from
biological models. This approach is motivated by the fact that
biological solutions will usually be optimized by evolutionary forces.
While the technologies that make bionic implants possible are
developing gradually, a few successful bionic devices exist, a well
known one being the Australian-invented multi-channel cochlear implant (bionic ear), a device for deaf
people. Since the bionic ear, many bionic devices have emerged and work
is progressing on bionics solutions for other sensory disorders (e.g.
vision and balance). Bionic research has recently provided treatments
for medical problems such as neurological and psychiatric conditions,
for example Parkinson's disease and epilepsy.
By 2004 fully functional artificial hearts were developed. Significant progress is expected with the advent of nanotechnology. A well-known example of a proposed nanodevice is a respirocyte, an artificial red cell, designed (though not built yet) by Robert Freitas.
Kwabena Boahen from Ghana was a professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania. During his eight years at Penn, he developed a siliconretina
that was able to process images in the same manner as a living retina.
He confirmed the results by comparing the electrical signals from his
silicon retina to the electrical signals produced by a salamander eye while the two retinas were looking at the same image.
The Nichi-In group is working on biomimicking scaffolds in tissue
engineering, stem cells and regenerative medicine have given a detailed
classification on biomimetics in medicine.
On 21 July 2015, the BBC's medical correspondent Fergus Walsh
reported, "Surgeons in Manchester have performed the first bionic eye
implant in a patient with the most common cause of sight loss in the
developed world. Ray Flynn, 80, has dry age-related macular degeneration
which has led to the total loss of his central vision. He is using a
retinal implant which converts video images from a miniature video
camera worn on his glasses. He can now make out the direction of white
lines on a computer screen using the retinal implant." The implant,
known as the Argus II and manufactured in the US by the company Second Sight Medical Products, had been used previously in patients who were blind as the result of the rare inherited degenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa.
On 17 February 2020, Darren Fuller, a military veteran became the first person to receive a bionic arm. Fuller lost the lower section of his right arm while serving term in Afghanistan during an incident that involved mortar ammunition in 2008.
Politics
A political form of biomimicry is bioregional democracy, wherein political borders conform to natural ecoregions rather than human cultures or the outcomes of prior conflicts.
Critics of these approaches often argue that ecological selection itself is a poor model of minimizing manufacturing complexity or conflict, and that the free market relies on conscious cooperation, agreement, and standards as much as on efficiency – more analogous to sexual selection. Charles Darwin himself contended that both were balanced in natural selection
– although his contemporaries often avoided frank talk about sex, or
any suggestion that free market success was based on persuasion, not
value.
Advocates, especially in the anti-globalization movement, argue that the mating-like processes of standardization, financing and marketing, are already examples of runaway evolution
– rendering a system that appeals to the consumer but which is
inefficient at use of energy and raw materials. Biomimicry, they argue,
is an effective strategy to restore basic efficiency.
Business biomimetics
is the latest development in the application of biomimetics.
Specifically it applies principles and practice from biological systems
to business strategy, process, organisation design and strategic
thinking. It has been successfully used by a range of industries in
FMCG, defence, central government, packaging and business services.
Based on the work by Phil Richardson at the University of Bath the approach was launched at the House of Lords in May 2009.
In a more specific meaning, it is a creativity technique that tries to use biological
prototypes to get ideas for engineering solutions. This approach is
motivated by the fact that biological organisms and their organs have
been well optimized by evolution. In chemistry, a biomimetic synthesis is a chemical synthesis inspired by biochemical processes.
Another, more recent meaning of the term bionics refers to
merging organism and machine. This approach results in a hybrid system
combining biological and engineering parts, which can also be referred
as a cybernetic organism (cyborg). Practical realization of this was demonstrated in Kevin Warwick's implant experiments bringing about ultrasound input via his own nervous system.
A four-week-old puppy, found alongside a road after flooding in West Virginia, United States, is fed at an Emergency Animal Rescue Service shelter in the Twin Falls State Park.
Respect for animal welfare is often based on the belief that nonhuman animals are sentient and that consideration should be given to their well-being or suffering, especially when they are under the care of humans. These concerns can include how animals are slaughtered for food, how they are used in scientific research,
how they are kept (as pets, in zoos, farms, circuses, etc.), and how
human activities affect the welfare and survival of wild species.
There are two forms of criticism of the concept of animal
welfare, coming from diametrically opposite positions. One view, held by
some thinkers in history, holds that humans have no duties of any kind
to animals. The other view is based on the animal rights
position that animals should not be regarded as property and any use of
animals by humans is unacceptable. Accordingly, some animal rights
proponents argue that the perception of better animal welfare
facilitates continued and increased exploitation of animals. Some authorities therefore treat animal welfare and animal rights as two opposing positions. Others see animal welfare gains as incremental steps towards animal rights.
The predominant view of modern neuroscientists, notwithstanding philosophical problems with the definition of consciousness even in humans, is that consciousness exists in nonhuman animals. However, some still maintain that consciousness is a philosophical question that may never be scientifically resolved.
Remarkably, a new study has managed to overcome some of the
difficulties in testing this question empirically, and devised a unique
way to dissociate conscious from nonconscious perception in animals.
In this study conducted in rhesus monkeys, the researchers built
experiments predicting completely opposite behavioral outcomes to
consciously vs. non-consciously perceived stimuli. Strikingly, the
monkeys' behaviors displayed these exact opposite signatures, just like
aware and unaware humans tested in the study.
History, principles and practice
Animal protection laws were enacted as early as 13th century AD by Genghis Khan in Mongolia, where they protected wildlife during breeding season (March to October).
In 1776, English clergyman Humphrey Primatt authored A Dissertation on the Duty of Mercy and Sin of Cruelty to Brute Animals, one of the first books published in support of animal welfare. Marc Bekoff has noted that "Primatt was largely responsible for bringing animal welfare to the attention of the general public."
Since 1822, when Irish MP Richard Martin brought the "Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822"
through Parliament offering protection from cruelty to cattle, horses,
and sheep, an animal welfare movement has been active in England. Martin
was among the founders of the world's first animal welfare
organization, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or SPCA, in 1824. In 1840, Queen Victoria gave the society her blessing, and it became the RSPCA.
The society used members' donations to employ a growing network of
inspectors, whose job was to identify abusers, gather evidence, and
report them to the authorities.
In 1837, the German minister Albert Knapp founded the first German animal welfare society.
Significant progress in animal welfare did not take place until the late 20th century.
In 1965, the UK government commissioned an investigation—led by
Professor Roger Brambell—into the welfare of intensively farmed animals,
partly in response to concerns raised in Ruth Harrison's 1964 book, Animal Machines.
On the basis of Professor Brambell's report, the UK government set up
the Farm Animal Welfare Advisory Committee in 1967, which became the Farm Animal Welfare Council
in 1979. The committee's first guidelines recommended that animals
require the freedoms to "stand up, lie down, turn around, groom
themselves and stretch their limbs." The guidelines have since been
elaborated upon to become known as the Five Freedoms.
In the UK, the "Animal Welfare Act 2006" consolidated many different forms of animal welfare legislation.
A number of animal welfare organisations are campaigning to achieve a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare
(UDAW) at the United Nations. In principle, the Universal Declaration
would call on the United Nations to recognise animals as sentient
beings, capable of experiencing pain and suffering, and to recognise
that animal welfare is an issue of importance as part of the social
development of nations worldwide. The campaign to achieve the UDAW is
being co-ordinated by World Animal Protection, with a core working group including Compassion in World Farming, the RSPCA, and the Humane Society International (the international branch of HSUS).
Animal welfare science
Animal welfare science
is an emerging field that seeks to answer questions raised by the
keeping and use of animals, such as whether hens are frustrated when
confined in cages, whether the psychological well-being of animals in laboratories can be maintained, and whether zoo animals are stressed by the transport required for international conservation. Ireland leads research into farm animal welfare with the recently published Research Report on Farm Animal Welfare.
The welfare of egg laying hens in battery cages (top) can be compared with the welfare of free range
hens (middle and bottom) which are given access to the outdoors.
However, animal welfare groups argue that the vast majority of
free-range hens are still intensively confined (bottom) and are rarely
able to go outdoors.
Farmed animals are artificially selected for production
parameters which sometimes impinge on the animals' welfare. For example,
broiler
chickens are bred to be very large to produce the greatest quantity of
meat per animal. Broilers bred for fast growth have a high incidence of
leg deformities because the large breast muscles cause distortions of
the developing legs and pelvis, and the birds cannot support their
increased body weight. As a consequence, they frequently become lame or
suffer from broken legs. The increased body weight also puts a strain on
their hearts and lungs, and ascites
often develops. In the UK alone, up to 20 million broilers each year
die from the stress of catching and transport before reaching the
slaughterhouse.
Another concern about the welfare of farmed animals is the method of slaughter, especially ritual slaughter.
While the killing of animals need not necessarily involve suffering,
the general public considers that killing an animal reduces its welfare. This leads to further concerns about premature slaughtering such as chick culling by the laying hen industry,
in which males are slaughtered immediately after hatching because they
are superfluous; this policy occurs in other farmed animal industries
such as the production of goat and cattle milk, raising the same
concerns.
Cetaceans
Captive cetaceans are kept for display, research and naval
operations. To enhance their welfare, humans feed them fish which are
dead, but are disease-free, protect them from predators and injury,
monitor their health, and provide activities for behavioral enrichment. Some are kept in lagoons with natural soil and vegetated sides. Most are in concrete tanks which are easy to clean, but echo their natural sounds back to them. They cannot develop their own social groups, and related cetaceans are typically separated for display and breeding. Military dolphins used in naval operations swim free during operations and training, and return to pens otherwise.
Captive cetaceans are trained to present themselves for blood samples,
health exams and noninvasive breath samples above their blow holes. Staff can monitor the captives afterwards for signs of infection from the procedure.
Research on wild cetaceans leaves them free to roam and
make sounds in their natural habitat, eat live fish, face predators and
injury, and form social groups voluntarily. However boat engines of
researchers, whale watchers and others add substantial noise to their
natural environment, reducing their ability to echolocate and
communicate. Electric engines
are far quieter, but are not widely used for either research or whale
watching, even for maintaining position, which does not require much
power.Vancouver Port offers discounts for ships with quiet propeller and hull designs. Other areas have reduced speeds. Boat engines also have unshielded propellers, which cause serious injuries to cetaceans who come close to the propeller. The US Coast Guard has proposed rules on propeller guards to protect human swimmers, but has not adopted any rules. The US Navy uses propeller guards to protect manatees in Georgia. Ducted propellers
provide more efficient drive at speeds up to 10 knots, and protect
animals beneath and beside them, but need grilles to prevent injuries to
animals drawn into the duct.
Attaching satellite trackers and obtaining biopsies to measure
pollution loads and DNA involve either capture and release, or shooting
the cetaceans from a distance with dart guns.
A cetacean was killed by a fungal infection after being darted, due to
either an incompletely sterilized dart or an infection from the ocean
entering the wound caused by the dart. Researchers on wild cetaceans have not yet been able to use drones to capture noninvasive breath samples.
In addition to cetaceans, the welfare of other wild animals has also
been studied, though to a lesser extent than that of animals in farms.
Research in wild animal welfare has two focuses: the welfare of wild
animals kept in captivity and the welfare of animals living in the wild.
The former has addressed the situation of animals kept both for human
use, as in zoos or circuses, or in rehabilitation centers. The latter has examined how the welfare of non-domesticated animals
living in wild or urban areas are affected by humans or natural factors
causing wild animal suffering.
Some of the proponents of these views have advocated for carrying
out conservation efforts in ways that respect the welfare of wild
animals, within the framework of the disciplines of compassionate conservation and conservation welfare,
while others have argued in favor of improving the welfare of wild
animals for the sake of the animals, regardless of whether there are any
conservation issues involved at all. The welfare economist Yew-Kwang Ng, in his 1995 "Towards welfare biology: Evolutionary economics of animal consciousness and suffering", proposed welfare biology
as a research field to study "living things and their environment with
respect to their welfare (defined as net happiness, or enjoyment minus
suffering)."
Legislation
European Union
The European Commission's activities in this area start with the recognition that animals are sentient beings.
The general aim is to ensure that animals do not endure avoidable pain
or suffering, and obliges the owner/keeper of animals to respect minimum
welfare requirements. European Union legislation regarding farm animal welfare is regularly re-drafted according to science-based evidence and cultural views. For example, in 2009, legislation was passed which aimed to reduce animal suffering during slaughter and on 1 January 2012, the European Union Council Directive 1999/74/EC came into act, which means that conventional battery cages for laying hens are now banned across the Union.
United Kingdom
The Animal Welfare Act 2006
makes owners and keepers responsible for ensuring that the welfare
needs of their animals are met. These include the need: for a suitable
environment (place to live), for a suitable diet, to exhibit normal
behavior patterns, to be housed with, or apart from, other animals (if
applicable), and to be protected from pain, injury, suffering and
disease.
Anyone who is cruel to an animal, or does not provide for its welfare
needs, may be banned from owning animals, fined up to £20,000 and/or
sent to prison for a maximum of six months.
In the UK, the welfare of research animals being used for "regulated procedures" was historically protected by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) which is administrated by the Home Office.
The Act defines "regulated procedures" as animal experiments that could
potentially cause "pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm" to
"protected animals". Initially, "protected animals" encompassed all
living vertebrates other than humans, but, in 1993, an amendment added a single invertebrate species, the common octopus.
Primates, cats, dogs, and horses
have additional protection over other vertebrates under the Act.
Revised legislation came into force in January 2013. This has been
expanded to protect "...all living vertebrates, other than man, and any
living cephalopod.
Fish and amphibia are protected once they can feed independently and
cephalopods at the point when they hatch. Embryonic and foetal forms of
mammals, birds and reptiles are protected during the last third of their
gestation or incubation period." The definition of regulated procedures
was also expanded: "A procedure is regulated if it is carried out on
a protected animal and may cause that animal a level of pain,
suffering, distress or lasting harm equivalent to, or higher than, that
caused by inserting a hypodermic needle according to good veterinary
practice." It also includes modifying the genes of a protected
animal if this causes the animal pain, suffering, distress, or lasting
harm. The ASPA also considers other issues such as animal sources, housing conditions, identification methods, and the humane killing of animals.
This legislation is widely regarded as the strictest in the world.
Those applying for a license must explain why such research cannot be
done through non-animal methods. The project must also pass an ethical
review panel which aims to decide if the potential benefits outweigh any
suffering for the animals involved.
United States
In
the United States, a federal law called the Humane Slaughter Act was
designed to decrease suffering of livestock during slaughter.
The Georgia Animal Protection Act of 1986 was a state law enacted in response to the inhumane treatment of companion animals by a pet store chain in Atlanta.
The Act provided for the licensing and regulation of pet shops,
stables, kennels, and animal shelters, and established, for the first
time, minimum standards of care. Additional provisions, called the
Humane Euthanasia Act, were added in 1990, and then further expanded and strengthened with the Animal Protection Act of 2000.
In 2002, voters passed (by a margin of 55% for and 45% against)
Amendment 10 to the Florida Constitution banning the confinement of
pregnant pigs in gestation crates. In 2006, Arizona voters passed Proposition 204
with 62% support; the legislation prohibits the confinement of calves
in veal crates and breeding sows in gestation crates. In 2007, the Governor of Oregon signed legislation prohibiting the confinement of pigs in gestation crates and in 2008, the Governor of Colorado signed legislation that phased out both gestation crates and veal crates. Also during 2008, California passed Proposition 2, known as the "Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act", which orders new space requirements for farm animals starting in 2015.
The
use of animals in laboratories remains controversial. Animal welfare
advocates push for enforced standards to ensure the health and safety of
those animals used for tests.
In the US, every institution that uses vertebrate animals for federally funded laboratory research must have an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).
Each local IACUC reviews research protocols and conducts evaluations of
the institution's animal care and use which includes the results of
inspections of facilities that are required by law. The IACUC committee
must assess the steps taken to "enhance animal well-being" before
research can take place. This includes research on farm animals.
According to the National Institutes of Health
Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare, researchers must try to minimize
distress in animals whenever possible: "Animals used in research and
testing may experience pain from induced diseases, procedures, and
toxicity. The Public Health Service (PHS) Policy and Animal Welfare
Regulations (AWRs) state that procedures that cause more than momentary
or slight pain or distress should be performed with appropriate
sedation, analgesia, or anesthesia.
However, research and testing studies sometimes involve pain that
cannot be relieved with such agents because they would interfere with
the scientific objectives of the study. Accordingly, federal regulations
require that IACUCs determine that discomfort to animals will be
limited to that which is unavoidable for the conduct of scientifically
valuable research, and that unrelieved pain and distress will only
continue for the duration necessary to accomplish the scientific
objectives. The PHS Policy and AWRs further state that animals that
would otherwise suffer severe or chronic pain and distress that cannot
be relieved should be painlessly killed at the end of the procedure, or
if appropriate, during the procedure."
The National Research Council's Guide for the Care and Use of
Laboratory Animals also serves as a guide to improve welfare for animals
used in research in the US.
The Federation of Animal Science Societies' Guide for the Care and Use
of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching is a resource
addressing welfare concerns in farm animal research. Laboratory animals in the US are also protected under the Animal Welfare Act. The United States Department of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) enforces the Animal
Welfare Act. APHIS inspects animal research facilities regularly and
reports are published online.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the total
number of animals used in the U.S. in 2005 was almost 1.2 million,
but this does not include rats, mice, and birds which are not covered
by welfare legislation but make up approximately 90% of research
animals.
Approaches and definitions
There are many different approaches to describing and defining animal welfare.
Positive conditions – Providing good animal welfare is
sometimes defined by a list of positive conditions which should be
provided to the animal. This approach is taken by the Five Freedoms and
the three principles of Professor John Webster.
The Five Freedoms are:
Freedom from thirst and hunger – by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour
Freedom from discomfort – by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area
Freedom from pain, injury, and disease – by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment
Freedom to express most normal behavior – by providing sufficient space, proper facilities, and company of the animal's own kind
Freedom from fear and distress – by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering
John Webster defines animal welfare by advocating three positive
conditions: Living a natural life, being fit and healthy, and being
happy.
High production – In the past, many have seen farm animal welfare chiefly in terms of whether the animal is producing well.
The argument is that an animal in poor welfare would not be producing
well, however, many farmed animals will remain highly productive despite
being in conditions where good welfare is almost certainly compromised,
e.g., layer hens in battery cages.
Emotion in animals – Others in the field, such as Professor Ian Duncan and Professor Marian Dawkins,
focus more on the feelings of the animal. This approach indicates the
belief that animals should be considered as sentient beings. Duncan
wrote, "Animal welfare is to do with the feelings experienced by
animals: the absence of strong negative feelings, usually called
suffering, and (probably) the presence of positive feelings, usually
called pleasure. In any assessment of welfare, it is these feelings that
should be assessed." Dawkins wrote, "Let us not mince words: Animal welfare involves the subjective feelings of animals."
Welfare biology – Yew-Kwang Ng defines animal welfare in terms of welfare economics:
"Welfare biology is the study of living things and their environment
with respect to their welfare (defined as net happiness, or enjoyment minus suffering).
Despite difficulties of ascertaining and measuring welfare and
relevancy to normative issues, welfare biology is a positive science."
Dictionary definition – In the Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary,
animal welfare is defined as "the avoidance of abuse and exploitation
of animals by humans by maintaining appropriate standards of
accommodation, feeding and general care, the prevention and treatment of
disease and the assurance of freedom from harassment, and unnecessary
discomfort and pain."
American Veterinary Medical Association
(AVMA) has defined animal welfare as: "An animal is in a good state of
welfare if (as indicated by scientific evidence) it is healthy,
comfortable, well nourished, safe, able to express innate behavior, and
if it is not suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and
distress." They have offered the following eight principles for developing and evaluating animal welfare policies.
The responsible use of animals for human purposes, such as
companionship, food, fiber, recreation, work, education, exhibition, and
research conducted for the benefit of both humans and animals, is
consistent with the Veterinarian's Oath.
Decisions regarding animal care, use, and welfare shall be made by
balancing scientific knowledge and professional judgment with
consideration of ethical and societal values.
Animals must be provided water, food, proper handling, health care,
and an environment appropriate to their care and use, with thoughtful
consideration for their species-typical biology and behavior.
Animals should be cared for in ways that minimize fear, pain, stress, and suffering.
Procedures related to animal housing, management, care, and use
should be continuously evaluated, and when indicated, refined or
replaced.
Conservation and management of animal populations should be humane, socially responsible, and scientifically prudent.
Animals shall be treated with respect and dignity throughout their lives and, when necessary, provided a humane death.
The veterinary profession shall continually strive to improve animal
health and welfare through scientific research, education,
collaboration, advocacy, and the development of legislation and
regulations.
Terrestrial Animal Health Code of World Organisation for Animal Health
defines animal welfare as "how an animal is coping with the conditions
in which it lives. An animal is in a good state of welfare if (as
indicated by scientific evidence) it is healthy, comfortable, well
nourished, safe, able to express innate behaviour, and if it is not
suffering from unpleasant states such as pain, fear, and distress. Good
animal welfare requires disease prevention and veterinary treatment,
appropriate shelter, management, nutrition, humane handling and humane
slaughter/killing. Animal welfare refers to the state of the animal; the
treatment that an animal receives is covered by other terms such as
animal care, animal husbandry, and humane treatment."
Coping – Professor Donald Broom
defines the welfare of an animal as "Its state as regards its attempts
to cope with its environment. This state includes how much it is having
to do to cope, the extent to which it is succeeding in or failing to
cope, and its associated feelings." He states that "welfare will vary
over a continuum from very good to very poor and studies of welfare will
be most effective if a wide range of measures is used." John Webster criticized this definition for making "no attempt to say what constitutes good or bad welfare."
Attitudes
Animal welfare often
refers to a utilitarian attitude towards the well-being of nonhuman
animals. It believes the animals can be exploited if the animal
suffering and the costs of use is less than the benefits to humans. This attitude is also known simply as welfarism.
Think about the animals that the
meat you eat comes from. Are you at all concerned about how they have
been treated? Have they lived well? Have they been fed on safe,
appropriate foods? Have they been cared for by someone who respects them
and enjoys contact with them? Would you like to be sure of that?
Perhaps it's time to find out a bit more about where the meat you eat
comes from. Or to buy from a source that reassures you about these
points.
Robert Garner describes the welfarist position as the most widely held in modern society. He states that one of the best attempts to clarify this position is given by Robert Nozick:
Consider the following (too
minimal) position about the treatment of animals. So that we can easily
refer to it, let us label this position "utilitarianism for animals,
Kantianism for people." It says: (1) maximize the total happiness of all
living beings; (2) place stringent side constraints on what one may do
to human beings. Human beings may not be used or sacrificed for the
benefit of others; animals may be used or sacrificed for the benefit of
other people or animals only if those benefits are greater than the loss
inflicted.
Welfarism is often contrasted with the animal rights
and animal liberation positions, which hold that animals should not be
used by humans and should not be regarded as human property. However, it has been argued that both welfarism and animal liberation
only make sense if it is assumed that animals have "subjective welfare".
New welfarism
New welfarism was coined by Gary L. Francione in 1996.
It is a view that the best way to prevent animal suffering is to
abolish the causes of animal suffering, but advancing animal welfare is a
goal to pursue in the short term. Thus, for instance, new welfarists
want to phase out fur farms and animal experiments but in the short-term
they try to improve conditions for the animals in these systems, so
they lobby to make cages less constrictive and to reduce the numbers of
animals used in laboratories.
Within the context of animal research,
many scientific organisations believe that improved animal welfare will
provide improved scientific outcomes. If an animal in a laboratory is
suffering stress or pain it could negatively affect the results of the research.
Increased affluence in many regions for the past few decades
afforded consumers the disposable income to purchase products from high
welfare systems.
The adaptation of more economically efficient farming systems in these
regions were at the expense of animal welfare and to the financial
benefit of consumers, both of which were factors in driving the demand
for higher welfare for farm animals.
A 2006 survey concluded that a majority (63%) of EU citizens "show some
willingness to change their usual place of shopping in order to be able
to purchase more animal welfare-friendly products."
The volume of scientific research on animal welfare has also increased significantly in some countries.
Criticisms
Denial of duties to animals
Some individuals in history have, at least in principle, rejected the view that humans have duties of any kind to animals.
Augustine of Hippo seemed to take such a position in his writings against those he saw as heretics:
"For we see and hear by their cries that animals die with pain, although
man disregards this in a beast, with which, as not having a rational
soul, we have no community of rights."
Animal rights
American philosopher Tom Regan has criticized the animal welfare movement for not going far enough to protect animals' interests.
Animal rights advocates, such as Gary L. Francione and Tom Regan,
argue that the animal welfare position (advocating for the betterment
of the condition of animals, but without abolishing animal use) is
inconsistent in logic and ethically unacceptable. However, there are
some animal right groups, such as PETA, which support animal welfare measures in the short term to alleviate animal suffering until all animal use is ended.
According to PETA's Ingrid Newkirk in an interview with Wikinews,
there are two issues in animal welfare and animal rights. "If I only
could have one thing, it would be to end suffering", said Newkirk. "If
you could take things from animals and kill animals all day long without
causing them suffering, then I would take it... Everybody should be
able to agree that animals should not suffer if you kill them or steal
from them by taking the fur off their backs or take their eggs,
whatever. But you shouldn't put them through torture to do that."
Abolitionism
holds that focusing on animal welfare not only fails to challenge
animal suffering, but may actually prolong it by making the exercise of
property rights over animals appear less unattractive. The
abolitionists' objective is to secure a moral and legal paradigm shift,
whereby animals are no longer regarded as property. In recent years
documentaries such as watchdominion.com have been produced, exposing the
suffering occurring in animal agriculture facilities that are marketed
as having high welfare standards.
World Organisation for Animal Health
(OIE): The intergovernmental organisation responsible for improving
animal health worldwide. The OIE has been established "for the purpose
of projects of international public utility relating to the control of
animal diseases, including those affecting humans and the promotion of
animal welfare and animal production food safety."
World Animal Protection: Protects animals across the globe. World Animal Protection's
objectives include helping people understand the critical importance of
good animal welfare, encouraging nations to commit to animal-friendly
practices, and building the scientific case for the better treatment of
animals. They are global in a sense that they have consultative status
at the Council of Europe and collaborate with national governments, the
United Nations, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World
Organization for Animal Health.
Non-government organizations
Canadian Council on Animal Care: The national organization responsible for overseeing the care and use of animals involved in Canadian Science.
Canadian Federation of Humane Societies
(CFHS): The only national organization representing humane societies
and SPCAs in Canada. They provide leadership on animal welfare issues
and spread the message across Canada.
The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association: Brings in veterinary
involvement to animal welfare. Their objective is to share this concern
of animals with all members of the profession, with the general public,
with government at all levels, and with other organizations such as the
CFHS, which have similar concerns.
Compassion in World Farming:
Founded over 40 years ago in 1967 by a British farmer who became
horrified by the development of modern, intensive factory farming.
"Today we campaign peacefully to end all cruel factory farming
practices. We believe that the biggest cause of cruelty on the planet
deserves a focused, specialised approach – so we only work on farm
animal welfare."
The Movement for Compassionate Living: Exists to-
"Promote simple vegan living and self-reliance as a remedy against the exploitation of humans, animals and the Earth.
Promote the use of trees and vegan-organic farming to meet the needs of society for food and natural resources.
Promote a land-based society where as much of our food and resources as possible are produced locally."
National Animal Interest Alliance:
An animal welfare organization in the United States founded in 1991
promotes the welfare of animals, strengthens the human-animal bond, and
safeguards the rights of responsible animal owners, enthusiasts and
professionals through research, public information and sound public
policy.
They host an online library of information about various animal-related
subjects serving as a resource for groups and individuals dedicated to
responsible animal care and well-being.
National Farm Animal Care Council: Their objectives are to
facilitate collaboration among members with respect to farm animal care
issues in Canada, to facilitate information sharing and communication,
and to monitor trends and initiatives in both the domestic and
international market place.
Universities Federation for Animal Welfare:
A UK registered charity, established in 1926, that works to develop and
promote improvements in the welfare of all animals through scientific
and educational activity worldwide.
Mice are the most numerous mammal species used for live animal research. Such research is sometimes described as vivisection.
Vivisection (from Latin vivus 'alive', and sectio 'cutting') is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experimentation on live animals by organizations opposed to animal experimentation, but the term is rarely used by practising scientists. Human vivisection, such as live organ harvesting, has been perpetrated as a form of torture.
Animal vivisection
An anesthetized pig used for training a surgeon
Research requiring vivisection techniques that cannot be met through other means is often subject to an external ethics review in conception and implementation, and in many jurisdictions use of anesthesia is legally mandated for any surgery likely to cause pain to any vertebrate.
In the United States, the Animal Welfare Act explicitly requires that any procedure that may cause pain use "tranquilizers, analgesics, and anesthetics", with exceptions when "scientifically necessary". The act does not define "scientific necessity" or regulate specific scientific procedures, but approval or rejection of individual techniques in each federally funded lab is determined on a case-by-case basis by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee,
which contains at least one veterinarian, one scientist, one
non-scientist, and one other individual from outside the university.
In the United Kingdom, any experiment involving vivisection must be licensed by the Home Secretary. The Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986
"expressly directs that, in determining whether to grant a licence for
an experimental project, 'the Secretary of State shall weigh the likely
adverse effects on the animals concerned against the benefit likely to
accrue.'"
In Australia,
the Code of Practice "requires that all experiments must be approved by
an Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee" that includes a "person
with an interest in animal welfare who is not employed by the
institution conducting the experiment, and an additional independent
person not involved in animal experimentation."
Anti-vivisectionists have played roles in the emergence of the animal welfare and animal rights movements, arguing that animals and humans have the same natural rights
as living creatures, and that it is inherently immoral to inflict pain
or injury on another living creature, regardless of the purpose or
potential benefit to mankind.
Vivisection and anti-vivisection in the 19th century
At
the turn of the 19th century, medicine was undergoing a transformation.
The emergence of hospitals and the development of more advanced medical
tools such as the stethoscope are but a few of the changes in the
medical field.
There was also an increased recognition that medical practices needed
to be improved, as many of the current therapeutics were based on
unproven, traditional theories that may or may not have helped the
patient recover. The demand for more effective treatment shifted
emphasis to research with the goal of understanding disease mechanisms
and anatomy.
This shift had a few effects, one of which was the rise in patient
experimentation, leading to some moral questions about what was
acceptable in clinical trials and what was not. An easy solution to the
moral problem was to use animals in vivisection experiments, so as not
to endanger human patients. This, however, had its own set of moral
obstacles, leading to the anti-vivisection movement.
François Magendie (1783–1855)
One polarizing figure in the anti-vivisection movement was François Magendie. Magendie was a physiologist at the Académie Royale de Médecine in France, established in the first half of the 19th century.
Magendie made several groundbreaking medical discoveries, but was far
more aggressive than some of his other contemporaries with his use of
animal experimentation. For example, the discovery of the different
functionalities of dorsal and ventral spinal nerve roots was achieved by
both Magendie, as well as a Scottish anatomist named Charles Bell. Bell
used an unconscious rabbit because of "the protracted cruelty of the
dissection", which caused him to miss that the dorsal roots were also
responsible for sensory information. Magendie, on the other hand, used
conscious, six-week-old puppies for his own experiments.
While Magendie's approach was more of an infringement on what we would
today call animal rights, both Bell and Magendie used the same
justification for vivisection: the cost of animal lives and
experimentation was well worth it for the benefit of humanity.
Many viewed Magendie's work as cruel and unnecessarily torturous.
One note is that Magendie carried out many of his experiments before
the advent of anesthesia, but even after ether was discovered it was not
used in any of his experiments or classes.
Even during the period before anesthesia, other physiologists
expressed their disgust with how he conducted his work. One such
visiting American physiologist describes the animals as "victims" and
the apparent sadism that Magendie displayed when teaching his classes.
The cruelty in such experiments actually even led to Magendie's role as
an important figure in animal-rights legislation. He was so despised in
Britain that his experiments were cited in the drafting of the Cruel Treatment of Cattle Act 1822 and the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876.
The Cruelty to Animals Act, 1876
in Britain determined that one could only conduct vivisection on
animals with the appropriate license from the state, and that the work
the physiologist was doing had to be original and absolutely necessary. The stage was set for such legislation by physiologist David Ferrier.
Ferrier was a pioneer in understanding the brain and used animals to
show that certain locales of the brain corresponded to bodily movement
elsewhere in the body in 1873. He put these animals to sleep, and caused
them to move unconsciously with a probe. Ferrier was successful, but
many decried his use of animals in his experiments. Some of these
arguments came from a religious standpoint. Some were concerned that
Ferrier's experiments would separate God from the mind of man in the
name of science.
Some of the anti-vivisection movement in England had its roots in
Evangelicalism and Quakerism. These religions already had a distrust for
science, only intensified by the recent publishing of Darwin's Theory
of Evolution in 1859.
Neither side was pleased with how the Cruelty to Animals Act 1876
was passed. The scientific community felt as though the government was
restricting their ability to compete with the quickly advancing France
and Germany with new regulations. The anti-vivisection movement was also
unhappy, but because they believed that it was a concession to
scientists for allowing vivisection to continue at all.
Ferrier would continue to vex the anti-vivisection movement in Britain
with his experiments when he had a debate with his German opponent,
Friedrich Goltz. They would effectively enter the vivisection arena,
with Ferrier presenting a monkey, and Goltz presenting a dog, both of
which had already been operated on. Ferrier won the debate, but did not
have a license, leading the anti-vivisection movement to sue him in
1881. Ferrier was not found guilty, as his assistant was the one
operating, and his assistant did have a license.
Ferrier and his practices gained public support, leaving the
anti-vivisection movement scrambling. They made the moral argument that
given recent developments, scientists would venture into more extreme
practices to operating on "the cripple, the mute, the idiot, the
convict, the pauper, to enhance the “interest” of [the physiologist's]
experiments".
Human vivisection
It is possible that human vivisection was practiced by some Greek anatomists in Alexandria in the 3rd century BC. Celsus in De Medicina and the early-Christian writer Tertullian state that Herophilos of Alexandria vivisected at least 600 live prisoners.
Vivisection without anesthesia was an execution method employed by the Khmer Rouge at the Tuol Sleng prison. Only seven people survived the four-year run of the prison before its liberation by the Vietnamese army in January 1979.
