The Scalpel and the Butterfly The Conflict Between Animal Research and Animal Protection

Rudacille uses impeccably researched material to take readers from the earliest days of animal-rights activism to the present.... In the final chapter, the author embarks on a productive discussion of ways the animal-rights controversy could be resolved. - Rebecca Skloot, Chicago Tribune "We are entering a new era in the question of animal rights. Nowhere is this extremely important issue more cogently discussed than in The Scalpel and the Butterfly. Those who believe, as I do, that animals have rights far beyond those that we at present accord them should arm themselves with the information in this valuable book." - Elizabeth Marshall Thomas "In this excellent exploration of the conflict between animal protection and animal research, the author resolutely resists simplistic answers.... By showing the spectrum of possible views between the moral absolutism of one camp and the unrepentant materialism of the other, this valuable book suggests a vast ground for compromise." - The New Yorker "U.S. scientists experiment on 14 million animals a year. Do health and safety benefits to humans justify the suffering of animals? Deborah Rudacille addresses the issue with fairness and respect to both science and its critics." - Rob Mitchell, Boston Globe "Must reading for biomedical researchers and indeed for anyone concerned about the ethics of human and animal experimentation. Rudacille is fair to both camps - she exposes both the merits and the weaknesses of the animal rights advocates and of the researchers, and tellingly recounts changes in our attitudes over time that dramatically illustrate the need for open minds and the willingness to change behavior when warranted by the evidence. - Louis Lasagna, Tufts University School of Medicine