Animal Rights: the Debate

In the second of our two-part discussion about experiments on animals, we talk to Pandora Pound and Rachel Smith about the reliability or otherwise of scientific research using animals, much of which causes profound suffering. They discuss examples of where animal experiments have failed to predict serious adverse effects in people and the huge potential of various non-animal approaches. They also...

In this episode, we talk to Pandora Pound of Safer Medicine (UK) and Rachel Smith of Animal Free Research Advocacy (Australia), about the reliability (or otherwise) of research using animals and how researchers got hooked on using animals despite highly questionable results. What are the economic and other pressures? Do animal models, artificially creating human diseases in (non-human) animals, ac...

Our knowledge of [other] animals has increased hugely over the last few decades, and so it has become more difficult to deny them the same sort of moral consideration we grant our own species. Professor Grace Clement of Salisbury University in the USA specialises in animal ethics. We talk to her about the moral status of animals, the nature of morality, and the feminist ethic of care. Donate here:...

Join us for a round up of recent developments in relation to animal issues, from the way bird flu is spreading to humans, the effect net zero could have on meat consumption, to the controversial subject of animal experiments. Donate here: https://ko-fi.com/animalrightsdebate Join the WhatsApp community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/LTGteTLZkwI9XUtB1Xxfen Find out more: https://linktr.ee/animalrightsd...

Cultivated meat offers the prospect of a world without the horrors of livestock farming, with the added benefit of protecting the environment, mitigating climate change, and improving human health. Philip Lymbery, the CEO of Compassion in World Farming, who has co-authored the book Cultivated Meat: To Secure Our Future, joins us for a discussion on this ground-breaking development. Donate here: ht...

When future generations look back at our appalling treatment of other animals, Camp Beagle in Cambridgeshire will symbolise the extraordinary commitment of the few who refused to allow the atrocities of scientific research on animals to go unchallenged. In this episode, Sole Iriart, a spokesperson for Britain's longest - running protest of its kind, talks about the campaign to shut down the breedi...

We continue our discussion with leading advocate for animal rights, Professor Gary Francione. In this second part, we consider whether the characteristics of consciousness, rationality and awareness in animals is what gives them a right to life, or whether sentiency alone is sufficient. We also discuss if promoting animal welfare is a waste of time and resources, and if the 'rights' approach is mo...

How should we approach our relationship with animals? By treating them well whilst they are alive, but using them for our own purposes? Or by giving them the same sort of moral consideration that we give to humans? Professor Gary Francione is a distinguished philosopher, and advocate for granting animals similar rights to humans, and he believes that the welfare approach has been a failure, as wel...

It's been a mixed few months, with the current British  Government the first ever in the U.K. to water down animal protection legislation, but with Mexico passing a law to improve the lot of animals. David and Martyn take a look at national and international developments. We receive no grants or funding from any organisations or charities, so we urge you to help us continue in our efforts to encou...

Animals, humans, and the planet are in deep trouble. All across the globe, people are waking up to the undeniable connections between every living being―and noticing how out of balance our world has become. Yet, awareness is not enough. The Compassion Consortium aims to provide spiritual comfort, fellowship, and reflection, for those practising or exploring a plant-based lifestyle. We talk to Rev...

We take a look back over a year of legal proceedings to protect the interests of animals, further evidence that livestock farming is unavoidably cruel, and some opposition in the Roman Catholic Church to the way we treat other animals. Join David and Martyn for a review of some positive news and the challenges ahead.

To suggest that animals are persons – with all that such a claim implies – may seem far-fetched to some. After all, the way we treat animals is usually justified on the basis that there are fundamental differences between humans and animals. In the latest episode, we are joined by Professor Mark Rowlands from the University of Miami in Florida, who makes the case that other animals meet the criter...

The scale of animal farming is vast, its cruelty horrific, and the environmental damage extensive. Animal Equality is an international organisation working to end the suffering caused by such farming, and to promote a plant-based diet. Its large number of undercover investigations have been instrumental in exposing the reality between farm and slaughterhouse. We talk to its Executive Director, Abi...

In this episode, we talk to Dr Maureen O'Sullivan who is a law lecturer at the University of Galway, and whose academic interests include intellectual property law, particularly the morality of granting patents for biotechnology 'inventions', including genetically altered animals. Maureen has a particular interest in vegetarianism and veganism in Ireland. At the recent summer school run by the Oxf...

Few individuals have played such a central role in the modern animal rights movement as Kim Stallwood, whose career stretches back nearly half a century. From working as a holiday job in a slaughter house, to his role as executive director of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [PETA], Kim's journey provides a shining example of commitment to the values of truth, justice and compassion. We...

Adopting veganism is a transformative and fulfilling experience, but it is not always welcome, particularly in the workplace. The Vegan Inclusion Co works with employers to help them understand and accommodate the needs and rights of vegans, for whom a plant-based diet is not a dietary preference, but an ethical position. Join us as we talk to Jeanette Rowley, who gave key evidence in a case befor...

Extensive polling has shown that a considerable majority of the population want to see significant changes to the way our society treats animals. David and Martyn discuss the state of public opinion, and the extent to which the political parties have taken it on board. Join us for an election special. If you have any questions or comments, please contact us at animalrightsthedebate@outlook.com

The campaign for animal justice is world-wide, with legal action sometimes taken against those who break the law. In this episode we talk to  Carlos Contreras Lopez, a leading animal rights lawyer originally from Colombia and now practising in Spain and who is representing Cruelty Free International, one of the complainants in a prosecution of laboratory technicians for allegedly causing appalling...

Compassion for others is a principle close to the heart of religion, but how far - if at all - does it extend to other animals? In this episode, we speak to Barbara Gardner, a co-founder of the Animals Interfaith Alliance, 'a unique alliance of the world's most influential faith based, animal advocacy organisations. Author of The Compassionate Animal, Barbara Gardner joins us for a discussion abou...

In this episode, Martyn and David discuss topical issues in the news which are distinct but also connected - the richness of animals' lives, their cognitive abilities, and sentience; the benefits to neuroscience from studying animals' brains, and the implication this has for animal ethics; our commodification of animals such as dogs and farm animals; and the environmental degradation caused by int...

Richard Ryder has been dubbed the father of animal rights in this country, coining the term 'speciesism' to describe our irrational approach to non-human animals. He has published a dozen books, including, most famously, Victims of Science , described in Parliament at the time as the best-informed reference book on animal experiments. As well as a number of other books on animal rights, he has wri...

Thousands of dogs, monkeys, and other animals are subjected to experiments which cause pain and suffering, all permitted under the law. What is the moral justification for treating sentient beings in this way? And will yet another debate in the House of Commons lead to meaningful progress in ending such research? Join us as we discuss this controversial subject. 

As the oldest animal welfare society in the world, the RSPCA is synonymous with campaigning against cruelty to animals. Founded in 1824 by William Wilberforce and others who had brought about the end of the slave trade, the RSPCA soon became supported by the great and the good, with Queen Victoria its patron. Two hundred years later, we celebrate the RSPCA's achievement in putting cruelty at the h...

Whether it is because of the appalling cruelty inevitable in animal farming, the protection of the environment, or concerns about our health, many people across the world sign up to follow a plant-based diet during January. Is it a steppling stone to a permanent shift in lifestyle, or a short-lived experience? And is the decline in the fortunes of some companies producing vegan alternatives just a...

Millions of animals spend their lives in 'factory farms', before they meet a brutal end in a slaughter house. Apart from its impact on the environment, animal farming raises some fundamental moral issues about the treatment and killing of other sentient beings. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - PETA - is a world-wide organisation campaigning for a radically different approach to the wa...