The Wonder of Science

Laboratory mice suffice,
hairless rabbits are also nice.
Who gets to be science's new soldier?
Just pick the poison and roll the dice.

I have, like most Americans probably, never known the extent of scientific animal testing. Of course I've seen lab rats and I've even dissected my fair share of fetal cats, pigs and even a small shark once (my aunt is a biology teacher). But never have I imagined these animals being tortured, mistreated or killed in the name of science.
We had to read an article for another class entitled The Silence of Science, which talked about how scientists, though they know exactly what certain harmful business plans are doing to an ecosystem, will not speak up and deliver their useful knowledge to the public. This silence usually comes from a fear of losing their jobs should they speak out against a large corporation or government agency. This is terribly handled in my opinion. When people are more concerned about their job security then the life of a tortured animal or a mangled ecosystem, we have our priorities messed up. I think every scientist in the world realizes that they are not going to have a job if we don't have a world and the surest way to ensure that lack-there-of is to destroy, one at a time, the animal life and ecosystems that occupy it.
While reading chapter 2 of Animal Liberation, my mind harked back to all that I had learned during my semester in Chile about the dictatorship of Pinochet. His government was expert at dragging innocent people from their homes, interrogating them with unthinkable means of torture for information and upon discovering (usually nothing) of value, would dispose of a human life as easily as one would a bothersome fly. This seems to be the exact pattern of the scientific experiments throughout this chapter. Each one more horrible than the last and each one yielding little to no actual findings, only haunting conclusions such as 'further research needed.' If animals could speak English and read that last line of the report, perhaps they would have revolted right now like the so many citizens of Chile that rose up and demanded human rights and government transparency among many other things.
Since the animals are not able to do this, it is up to us.