Select one of these questions to answer:
1. Should animals be used in medical research (e.g., research on cancer)?
2. Should animals be kept in factory farms for human consumption?
3. Should it matter how animals are housed and treated if they are going to be killed for consumption later? (e.g., Should it matter how animals are treated in slaughterhouses before they are killed for consumption? Should it matter how chickens or pigs are kept in factory farms if they are going to be killed for meat? )
4. Should wildlife protection have a higher priority than commercial interests (e.g., Should the pygmy owl have a higher priority than the development of housing and businesses around Tucson? Should wildlife be protected and hinder logging or oil pipelines?)
5. Should animals be kept for human food consumption (i.e., should humans eat other animals)?
6. Should animals be kept in zoos or aquaria? (you can focus on specific species or taxon, if you like)
7. Should animals be used in circuses?
8. Should the sport of horse racing continue?
9. Should rodeo sports continue (e.g., bull riding, bronc riding, calf roping)?
10. Should animals be hunted for sport (e.g., commercial big game hunting, state license hunting)?
11. Should animals be used in modern warfare?
12. Should children/adolescents raise animals for market slaughter in youth programs such as 4H or FFA? (Is this desensitization or education?)
13. Should elderly care facilities be required to allow the residents to keep pets?
14. Should the use of animals be allowed for religious and ritual practices (e.g., sacrifice of animals, use of Asian elephants in spiritual festivals)?
15. Should emotional support animals be allowed on college campuses (e.g., in dorms, classrooms, cafeteria)?
16. Should it be legal to cook or eat crustaceans or fish alive? (e.g., Should it be allowed to boil lobsters alive for culinary purposes?)
17. Should people be allowed to throw-away plastics, given that plastic waste may cause harm to aquatic animals?
18. Should people be allowed to selectively breed domesticated animals for pure-bred (i.e., inbred) traits that are aesthetically pleasing but potentially harmful to the animal?
19. Should animal cloning be allowed?
Think of all the possible perspectives that might answer the question in different ways. Put yourself in their shoes of different people and answer the topic question. Examples of different perspectives:
· Animal welfare proponents
· Animal rights advocates
· Food security proponents
· Ethicists, philosophers
· National and local economic / employment interests
· Educators
· Medical researchers
· Parents
· Small business owners
· Family ranchers or farmers
· Large-scale agriculturalists /factory farmers
· Wildlife managers
· Conservationists
EXAMPLE:
The question I selected is:
1. Should animals be used in medical research (e.g., research on cancer)?
My Thesis statement might be:
In this paper I will present alternative positions on the topic of animal use for medical research, considering a variety of perspectives, and concluding with a position on animal testing that seems most justifiable.
Some ideas about the perspective on both the Pro and Con side:
PRO POSITION: Perspectives in Favor of Animal Research
Yes- animals should be used in medical research
(Include at least 2 of these perspectives)
· Some Medical researches hold this perspective because …
· evidence, references
· Some Parents may also hold this perspective because ….
· evidence, references
· Some Animal welfare proponents may also hold this perspective because ….
· evidence, references
· Some Ethicists / Philosophers hold this perspective because…
· evidence, references
CON POSITION: Perspectives Against Animal Research
No- animals should not be used in medical research
(Include at least 2 of these perspectives)
· Animal rights advocates hold this perspective because…
· evidence, references
· Other Medical researches hold this perspective because …
· evidence, references
· Some Ethicists / Philosophers hold this perspective because…
· evidence, references