BH Blogging Assignment 3

“Stop Using Chimps as Guinea Pigs”

By Roscoe G. Bartlett

This article writes about the opinion of opponents to the chimpanzee research.  According to the author, nine countries already forbid or restrict the research on great apes although the United States still continues it. In addition, this article shows that there are many technologies as alternatives of the research. For example, computer modeling can be used for it. I find this is interesting to me in these two points.

BH Blogging Assignment 5

"Chimps’ Days in Research May Be Near an End"
By James Gorman

This article is useful to write my essay in two points. First, this article shows the comment by Dr. VandeBerg that says stopping the research with chimps would be a threat to human lives. He argues that the research is effective to develop drugs for diseases and it would save lives of hundreds of thousand of peple. Second, this article explains the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act that is in Congress and would ban invasive research on all great apes. Although this act has not approved in Congress yet, it will be a clear and effective solution to the research with chimps in the United States.

BH Blogging Assignment 4

I will not donate my organs for transplantation.
First, I think that the donation of human organs leads to regard the organs as mere exchangeable bodily parts. According to Morioka, the social system that tries to construct broad transplantation network and aims at recycling all the possible organs might someday leads to a more inhumane society in which all people are regarded as an exchangeable part of the social system. In other words, the donation would cause the thought that human is regarded as exchangeable parts and would create the cruel society. Therefore, I will not donate my organs.
Second, I have the deontological theory about donation of organs. According to Shannon, the theory answers the question, "What should I do?" for specifying my obligation or moral duties. I think that the donation of organs for transplantation is not my moral obligation. Therefore, I will not donate my organs for transplantation from the view of deontologism.
Finally, I think that I should preserve my body perfectly even after dying. Morioka explains that Japanese view of the dead body tends to think that the dead body must be perfect to communicate with bereaved family phychologically and religiously. In other words, if some parts of the dead body are missing, the soul becomes unhappy in the next world. In my opinion, I should refuse to injure my dead body because it may make my soul unhappy after dying. Therefore, I will not donate my organs.
In conclusion, I will not donate my organs because of the risk of leading inhumane society, the theory of deontologism, and the desire to preserve my body perfectly after dying.

BH Blogging Assignment 2

My thesis statement is; the government of the United States should pass the law that restricts the use of chimpanzees in medical research in the United States because chimpanzees are an endangered species, the reality of physical procedures for them are cruel, the costs of owning chimpanzees is too high, and the way of medical research using chimpanzees is already old fashioned.

     Many chimpanzees are used for medical research in the Unite States. I am against the research with chimpanzee from the four reasons. Before I states my reasons of opposing to the research, I would like to state the benefit of the research. The medical research with chimpanzees are effective to development of drugs for diseases. For example, chimpanzees are the only animals that is affected with hepatitis C,  infecting 170 millions people in the world. Therefore, some scientists believed that the research is essential to develop drugs and save many people's lives. However, I think that the research should be restricted because of the following reasons. First, chimpanzees are recognized as an endangered species by International Union for Conservation of Nature. The medical research with chimpanzee requires the hunt for them and this means that the species having the closest gene structure with humans would be in the risk of extinction. Thus, the medical using chimpanzee should be restricted to protect them from being extinction. Second, the physical procedures of the medical research and the living standard of chimpanzees are really cruel. In fact, numerous studies of chimpanzees in sanctuaries that had previously been confined in laboratories have reported behavioral symptoms related to post traumatic disorder. Third, the cost to own chimpanzees for medical research is expensive. Ending the research on chimpanzees would save taxpayers about 30 million dollars a year. Finally, the way of research that uses chimpanzees as the subjects of experiments have been out of date in for some time.Other nations such us Australia, Japan, or New Zealand have already banned or strictly limited the use of chimpanzees in medical research. Moreover, there are more effective and cheaper alternatives for the research such as computer modeling.                   

In conclusion, I  think that the government of the United States should pass the law that restricts the use of chimpanzees in medical research in the United States.