On Humans and Other Species

In reference to Barry A. Palevitz's excellent commentary on animal slaughter,1 I completely agree that it is about time that we, humans, reconsider our attitude toward other animals or even other humans. The problem is perhaps much more fundamental than the market value of meat as a commodity. I think the present society does little to educate a child on the moral and humane aspects of life and society. Our major goal today is to make sure that our children grow up to be rich and famous. Throu

| 2 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

Throughout history, people have been given gruesome accounts of slaughter in our art, music and literature. Just consider the recent movies: Schindler's List, Babe, Chicken Run, and those that attempted to promote tolerance and compassion to other species, including extraterrestrials: ET, Free Willy. It appears that they only served as entertainment, since the carnage of human atrocity keeps raging in every continent on one scale or another, on every terrestrial species, often in the name of religion, national interest, supremacy, or sports.

Humans are indeed master killers. I am not a so-called "animal lover," but I do practice moderation in eating meat. As a biochemist, I know--and I try to educate people on this--that meat is not as essential to human diet as some people might want us to believe. The need for protein can be largely, if not completely, met by non-animal sources. There is certainly no conceivable dietary ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Meet the Author

  • Sailen Barik

    This person does not yet have a bio.

Published In

Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo
New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

New Frontiers in Vaccine Development

Sino

Products

Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide

Explore a Concise Guide to Optimizing Viral Transduction

A Visual Guide to Lentiviral Gene Delivery

Takara Bio
Inventia Life Science

Inventia Life Science Launches RASTRUM™ Allegro to Revolutionize High-Throughput 3D Cell Culture for Drug Discovery and Disease Research

An illustration of differently shaped viruses.

Detecting Novel Viruses Using a Comprehensive Enrichment Panel

Twist Bio