-
Categories
-
Pharmaceutical Intermediates
-
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients
-
Food Additives
- Industrial Coatings
- Agrochemicals
- Dyes and Pigments
- Surfactant
- Flavors and Fragrances
- Chemical Reagents
- Catalyst and Auxiliary
- Natural Products
- Inorganic Chemistry
-
Organic Chemistry
-
Biochemical Engineering
- Analytical Chemistry
- Cosmetic Ingredient
-
Pharmaceutical Intermediates
Promotion
ECHEMI Mall
Wholesale
Weekly Price
Exhibition
News
-
Trade Service
The male mouse pregnancy experiment is not a free learning of "seeking knowledge for the sake of knowledge" |
Not long ago, two researchers from the Naval Military Medical University (Zhang Rongjia and Liu Yuhuan) published online research results entitled "The Establishment of Male Mouse Pregnancy Model" on the life science preprint platform BioRxiv
.
The scientific research results are based on "male mouse pregnancy" as the research theme.
It is currently a preprint without peer review and has not been officially published
At present, the author has summarized the main controversies of the male mouse pregnancy experiment in domestic academic circles, including scientists and ethicists, and found that the main controversy among scholars lies in three aspects: whether the experiment is technologically innovative and What is the scientific significance? Does the experiment guarantee the welfare of animals? Does the experiment cause a moral decline in men’s pregnancy
?
The focus of this article is not the same as that of existing academic discussions, but to explain why an animal experiment in which neither the experimental format nor the experimental purpose is related to humans has aroused public ethical anxiety about "men’s pregnancy".
, And analyze whether the ethical review of animal experiments needs to be added to the ethical review of human beings in addition to animal welfare
.
The author believes that the animal experimentation of pregnant male rats is not a free study of "seeking knowledge for the sake of knowledge".
As an ethically sensitive issue, the ethical review of it should go beyond animal welfare and add a social ethical review with humans as the main body of morality
.
The male mouse pregnancy experiment is an animal experiment rather than an animal model of human disease
The male mouse pregnancy experiment is an animal experiment rather than an animal model of human disease The statement on PubPeer by the "trader" of the "male mouse pregnancy" experiment and Zhang Rongjia, the first author of the paper, emphasized that this is only an animal experiment and should not be related to humans
.
However, the author believes that animal experiments are different from animal models of human diseases.
The latter uses comparative studies of the experimental results of animal models and human diseases to more conveniently and effectively understand the occurrence and development of human diseases, and to study prevention and treatment measures
.
However, the former has no such experimental purpose to understand the mechanism of human diseases and diagnosis and treatment measures
.
Judging from the content of Zhang Rongjia's paper on BioRxiv, the "male mouse pregnancy" experiment is indeed an animal experiment, not an animal model, so it does not have a direct causal chain to establish a connection with people
.
In a report published in the "Nature" article on July 9, Professor Catherine Mills, a bioethicist at Monash University, shared the same view with the author
.
Why does the public have great ethical anxiety about "men's pregnancy" caused by animal experiments
Why does the public have great ethical anxiety about "men's pregnancy" caused by animal experiments Zhang Rongjia said in a reply email to "The Intellectuals": "The two of them are just scientific researchers and just want to do experiments
.
Personally, I just want to pursue the purest scientific answer, nothing more
.
Chinese philosopher of science and technology and professor of Tsinghua University Wu Guosheng summarized in the article "Science and Humanities" that ancient Greek science, which originated from Western science, is a kind of free science that pursues the spirit of freedom, and is a pure science of "seeking knowledge for the sake of knowledge".
No practical purpose
The author believes that just as Wu Guosheng analyzed in the article "From Truth-seeking Science to Science-seeking Force", people in ancient Greek science can only recognize, follow and imitate nature, and cannot transform and create nature; but modern Under the Bacon knowledge is power and nominalism movement, science has transformed into an anthropocentric and practical science
.
In other words, the anthropocentrism and practical color of modern science has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
The industrial revolution is the biggest empirical evidence.
Therefore, no matter how firmly the scientist himself expresses his "seeking knowledge for the sake of knowledge" in his experimental goals and personal statements, there is an indelible background of "for people" hidden behind the "knowledge"
.
This argument has been well demonstrated in the behavior of the public.
In the report interface of Zhanwang.
com about male mice’s pregnancy before June 18, the comments of netizens were basically the association of “men’s pregnancy”.
Modern and contemporary humans have been scientifically Conducted genetic discipline
.
Therefore, even if it is an animal experiment that does not have a direct causal link between humans, humans will actively and unconsciously replace the objects of science with humans themselves, thus pursuing the practicality of science
.
The ethical review of animal experiments that make people ethically sensitive should be added to the social ethical review with humans as the moral subject
The ethical review of animal experiments that make people ethically sensitive should be added to the social ethical review with humans as the moral subject Zhang Rongjia’s statement on PubPeer emphasized that the "male mouse pregnancy" experiment is only an animal experiment and should not be linked to humans
.
His argument is to try to confine the ethical controversy of the "male mouse pregnancy" experiment to the cocoon of animal ethics, and limit the moral subject to animals instead of extending to humans
.
Indeed, at the level of science and technology, animal experiments and animal models of human diseases can absolutely be cut clearly
.
But science is socially constructive, and science has a constructive picture in the brains of social groups, that is, the picture of "male mouse pregnancy" is inadvertently constructed as a picture of "male pregnancy", that is, the morality in the experiment during the transformation of the picture.
The subject is replaced by "animal" with "human"
.
In this process, although man did not appear as an object of scientific manipulation, but instead played the role of God as the creator, man became the moral subject of animal experiments and man was alienated into the object of scientific manipulation
.
Therefore, the focus of the readers of the relevant news is definitely not on the protection of the rights and interests of the experimental mouse itself.
This is just one of the reasons that ethicists use to criticize the legitimacy of the experimental ethics of "male mouse pregnancy"
.
However, the general public will definitely associate the experiment with a series of exclusive "human" questions such as whether the experiment is technically, morally, and socially appropriate, resulting in great ethical anxiety about "men being pregnant"
.
Therefore, when animal experiments such as "male mouse pregnancy" replace animals with humans, if it becomes an ethically sensitive issue, then the ethical review of it should go beyond animal welfare and include humans as the moral subject.
Social ethics review
.
Correspondingly, before designing such scientific research, as well as the review of such scientific research projects by the ethics committee, they must fully consider the social and ethical influence of people as the main body of morality
.
(The author's unit is the School of Medical Humanities, Peking University)