Bioethics in India: Proceedings of the International Bioethics Workshop in Madras: Biomanagement of Biogeoresources, 16-19 Jan. 1997, University of Madras; Editors:
Jayapaul Azariah, Hilda Azariah, & Darryl R.J. Macer, Copyright Eubios Ethics Institute 1997.
http://eubios.info/index.html
44. Aspects of
altruistic behaviour in parent pigeons
K.B. Shenoy and S.N. Hegde
Department of Applied Zoology,
Mangalore University, Mangalagangothri 574 199
Domestic pigeons (Columba
livia) are monogamous and are known for biparental care of
eggs and young ones. During incubation, the investment of time
per day by the female parent (18 h) far exceeds that of the male
counterpart (6 h). The female incubates the eggs throughout the
night hours (i.e. 17.30 h to 9.30 h) and will not leave the nest
until she finds the mate to take over. Moreover, whenever the
male was found wanting in incubating the eggs, the female assumes
the responsibility promptly. In biparental brooding of the young,
the time spent by the female was three times (18 h) that by the
male (6 h). When isolated and compelled to undertake uniparental
brooding (by a glass partition that permits the sighting of the
partner confined on the other side), the female increased the
time only by 3 h, whereas the male did so by 10 h. Incubation
of alien eggs and brooding and feeding of squabs by foster parents
suggest that pigeons cannot distinguish their own eggs from those
of other birds. If compelled, the birds could revert from brooding
to incubation state. The proportion of grains in the pigeon milk
is so regulated by the parent pigeons that the young squabs are
saved from the problem of swallowing coarse materials.
45. Animal Liberation
Philosophy in the Social Context of Basic Biological Research
D.S. Sheriff and T. Manopriya.
V.M.K.V. Medical College,
Salem - 636 308
In the West, organizations
like Animal Liberation or rights movement (ALARM) has taken over
many well-established animal welfare organizations and has diverted
their functions and resources away from welfare and toward opposition
to all animal use by humans. Members and supporters of animal
"protection" organizations are not at all of the same
mould. They have been classified into three groups; welfarists,
pragmatists and absolutists. The welfarists are concerned about
animal well-being and are not keenly supportive of animal "rights".
The pragmatists believe that animal should have rights, but they
recognize that some use of animals by humans will be necessary
for the foreseeable future. The absolutists are the extremists
of the movement, who insist that all human use of animals must
stop immediately. Keeping these groups in mind and the need for
an introspection regarding the moral dilemmas one faces as a research
worker in the field of bio-medical research the relevance of bioethics
will be discussed. It will also help to assess the present status
of our animal research in the context taking into account whether
there is any bio-ethics committee guiding the use of animals for
research purposes.
48. Ethics: A guide
or constraint to toxicologists
T.S. Vijaya Kumar and
H. Devaraj
Department of Zoology, University
of Madras, Guindy campus, Chennai 600 025
It is the duty of a toxicologist
/ pharmacologist to test a novel chemical / drug for its beneficence,
non-maleficence, Deontology, utilitarianism and consequentialism
(1). It is his/her task to prejudge a drug before it reaches the
public. It is imperative, for this pre-testing, that animals be
used. Though several alternates to animals in toxicity testing
have been proposed and some been accepted and applied, some aspects
leave no choice than animals. Behavioral toxicology/teratology/biology
is one such branch which could do with no less a substitute than
a whole, performing animal.
Ethical guidelines suggestive
of alternates are sometimes felt as constraints that restrain
a toxicologist's work plan by refraining attempts on certain fronts.
This article is a holistic approach to the issue, wherein the
basic need for ethics is explained, especially in toxicological
research and concludes that ethics is not a constraint (though
at times felt so) but a guideline or precaution to safeguard the
interests of every living being, because no doubt GOD gave Man
power have dominion over all living things, yet to have dominion
over something is not the same as having no consideration for
it.
49. Assay of toxins
using cell cultures: an ethical alternative to animal experimentation
T.S. Rao
Water and Steam Chemistry
Laboratory, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Facilities), Indira
Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research campus, Kalpakkam 603 102.
The aim of this presentation
is to highlight possible ways by which the use of animals in experimental
work can be so modified as to reduce animal suffering and the
number of animals used.
The role of bacterial toxins
in the causation of number of diseases of man and animals has
been well documented. Clostridium perfringens is the most
prolific of toxin producing Clostridia and is divided into five
types based on their ability to produce lethal toxins viz; alpha,
beta, epsilon and iota. Clostridium perfringens is largely
responsible for various toxaemic diseases of animals, as well
as gangrene and food poisoning in human beings. Among the different
types of Clostridium perfringens, type D is mainly responsible
for enterotoxaemia an economically important disease in sheep,
goat and cattle. Epsilon toxin produced by the bacterium is the
causative agent of the disease. The toxin induces tissue necrosis,
increases capillary permeability and the toxin lethality is further
activated by proteolytic enzymes in the gut. The assay of the
toxin is generally carried out in mice, guinea pig, sheep and
goat. The number of animals used for the assay is large. The toxin
inflicts pain and trauma in the animal, this amounts to cruelty
when the pain is not compensated by the consequential experimental
results. Such a procedure is not ethically and thus unacceptable.
Hence, it is imperative to look for better assay systems. Cell
cultures can be used instead of animal models for toxin assays.
In this study, the effect
of epsilon toxin on guinea pigs and mouse nuclear phagocytic system
(peritoneal macrophages) was investigated. Macrophage cell suspension
was treated with different concentrations of epsilon toxin and
incubated for 30, 60 and 90 minutes. After the period of incubation
the macrophage - toxin suspension was stained with Trypan blue
and the cells were transferred to a counting chamber. Blue stained
cells were deemed as dead as dead and unstained refractive cells
as live. The percentage of live cells killed was calculated using
standard statistical methods. A 1 : 64 dilution of epsilon toxin
has shown 90% kill of live cells after 60 minutes of incubation.
The percentage kill of live cells decreased with increasing dilution
of epsilon toxin. A1 : 2048 dilution resulted in 21% kill of live
macrophages after 60 min.
The present assay of the
toxin using nuclear phagocytic system proved to be a valuable
tool in toxin assay. Further studies on the effect of epsilon
toxin on various cell cultures need to be assessed for the cytopathic
effects. Concerted efforts are also required to be made for standardizing
the toxin - antitoxin neutralization tests in cell cultures instead
of laboratory animals. This effort will go a long way in the ethical
use of animals in biomedical research.
50. Bias in Ethics?
K. Shanker and R. Ramanibai
Department of Zoology, University
of Madras, Guindy campus, Chennai - 600 025
"Keep the past and
promote the future" is the promising policy for the survival
of life. This, as a rule, is not restricted to any particular
form of life but is applicable to life, whatever form it may be.
Ethically speaking each and every form of life has equal rights
of survival.
However, several of the
guidelines framed by man, do not give equal importance to all
forms of life. Owing to his occupying the uppermost creamy layer
in the evolutionary tree, man has framed most, if not all, guidelines
and rules to promote, at the cost of other living beings, only
one species i.e. Homo sapiens. The science of morals in
fact is in favour of man and man alone. Ethics is an unbiased
form, would or should negate this one sidedness and give equal
status to all forms of life. Only then will the term "Bioethics"
be justified as "ethics" for, and of "biota".
51. A Scientific
approach to life - Anthropological approach
S.A. Abdul Latheef, K.N.
Reddy and Subramanyam*
Department of Anthropology,
S.V. University, Tirupati - 517 502, Andhra Pradesh
*Department of Cardiology,
S.V.R.R.G. Hospital, Tirupati - 517 507
The subject matter of `life'
has already been discussed at length by poets, philosophers to
the scholars working in pure sciences, but still life remains
an enigmatic. The discipline anthropology has its own approach
to life and is viewed positively contrary to religious scripts.
Anthropologists believe life an evolving one through evolution
and continuity of life gives way to newer beings. These aspects
will be discussed in the paper.
60. Humankind in
Predicament
S.A. Abdul Latheef, K.N.
Reddy and Subramanyam*
Department of Anthropology,
S.V. University, Tirupati - 517 502, Andhra Pradesh
*Department of Cardiology,
S.V.R.R.G. Hospital, Tirupati - 517 507
Human beings are a biocultural
product of evolution. Like any other being humans are also at
the peak of evolution. They differ from the rest of animals in
using culture as a means of adaptation as well as cultural technologies
for manipulating nature. In the process he is subjecting himself
as an endangered animal. Furthermore, civilization is like tempest
and there is no doubt that humans may disappear ultimately because
of their extremism in cultural technology. Defiantly, we are at
cross roads whether we seek a direction from the nature or nurture
provides a direction for us, this remains to be seen.
53. Ethics behind
the sufferings of aquatic animals on pollution stress
B. Sivaramakrishna and
K. Radhakrishnaiah
Department of Zoology, Sri
Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur - 515 003, A. P.
The great advancement of
science and technology in the twentieth century is aiding rapid
urbanization, industrialization and agricultural development.
But human beings have failed in using the ecological principles
to minimize the negative impacts of these developments; one such
failure is causing pollution of aquatic environment with indiscriminate
disposal of sewage and industrial and agricultural wastes. This
not only degrades the water quality but also endangers the survival
of animals living in it. It is an ecological threat and is a global
warning. Even those survived are facing a number of ethnological,
physiological, biochemical and histological disorders throughout
their life; due to which some species are at the verge of extinction.
In the present study such sufferings are explained in a few aquatic
animals exposed to various pollutants. Based on those it is the
time for man to think either the ethics behind the sufferings
of those innocent creatures or satisfy himself with the scientific
progress.
54. Bioethical
management of working bullocks in Anantapur district of Andhra
Pradesh
K. Prudhvi Reddy and K.
Radhakrishnaiah
Department of Zoology, Sri
Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur - 515 003
Humans and animals are interdependent
since the beginning of history. Bullocks serve as chief source
of farm power and transport not only in rural areas but also in
urban centres. Their dung is highly useful to generate the non
conventional energy. In India, Andhra Pradesh stands fifth in
white cattle population (12.38 millions); Anantapur district possess
around six lakhs. However, it is observed that more than 50% of
them are suffering from various infectious and transmissible viral,
bacterial, fungal, protozoan and helminth diseases. Most of the
farmers are caring least the health of them; and once they feel
that the diseased animals are unfit for their domestic and farm
purposes they are mercilessly sold to slaughter houses and brutally
killed. In recent days the most neglected disease observed in
bullocks of Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, is myrotheciotoxicosis,
a fungal disease spread by giving them mould affected groundnut
leaves as fodder. Groundnut is the major agricultural crop in
this district; Myrothecium roridum is the toxic fungus
which grows on stalked leaves. It releases a toxin known as myrothecium
roridin which causes epistaxis (nasal bleeding) in working bullocks.
Based on the survey made it is recorded that more than 10,000
animals are suffering alone from this toxicosis. But the farmers
are extracting work from them innocently or ignorantly without
taking proper care. So, in this study a detailed report is prepared
on the nature of outbreak of this syndrome to place it before
them with an appeal to extend their concern on these dumb animals
while extracting work from them.
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