In the republic we are unashamedly humanist; we value human life FAR more than any animal….
What this means is that if there is some research that needs to be done to save human lives that requires some animal testing – then we will do it.
But what this does not mean is that we will allow animals to be routinely killed in pointless research; by no means. Students and school kids will NOT be allowed to disect animals: this is why we have interactive virtual reality programs with tactile feedback: all that needs to be learnt can be done through software. Nor will we allow cosmetics to be tested on animals in any way.
In fact, people have to come up with a damn good reason for needing to perform any tests on any animal: BUT – if such tests are required to create a drug or a procedure that will save a human’s life then we will allow them.
Because after all is said and done, human’s are conscious and sentient; and animals (whilst they might be able to feel pain) are NOT – and thus by the only criteria that can be considered valid, a human’s life is worth more than an animals.
Of course, one corollory of this is that any idiots that place an animals life above that of a human’s will have their actioned returned to them. There is no concrete object in the universe that can be pointed to, picked up, touched and called “justice” – it is an abstract human concept. Therefore we wimply return all actions that hurt someone else back onto the perpetrator and also require them to pay for all of the costs to the victim and to society that ther actions have caused. Animal rights activists that hurt another human will therefore have their exact actions performed back on them.
Human lives are infinitely more precious than that of an animal: we dance on this stage but once: let’s make it as long a performance as possible.