Madam, - I reject the accusation by John Banville (October 3rd) that medical students at Trinity College engage in animal vivisection as part of their studies. This is false and misinforms your readers about undergraduate medical training in this institution.
In Ireland, animal experimentation is performed under the most stringent of guidelines imposed by the Department of Health and Children. This is not an activity of undergraduates. Experiments on surgically anaesthetised animals are conducted by experienced, licensed researchers who wish to understand disease processes.
The public ought to be reminded that diabetes was a life-threatening condition until animal experiments led to the discovery that this disease could be treated successfully with pancreatic extracts containing insulin.
The value of animal experimentation in the development of new strategies for disease circumvention is unequivocal. Although alternatives to animal studies have certain value, no emergent property of a complex living system (eg high blood pressure) can be studied exclusively in a dish and the consequence of disease and the efficacy of experimental therapies on a whole organism must be considered before any advances can translate into improvements in patient care. - Yours, etc,
Prof VERONICA CAMPBELL,School of Medicine, Trinity College, Dublin 2.
Madam, - John Banville admits that he declined an offer to discuss the use of animals in the biology department at Trinity College because his "position on the matter is not open to discussion". It's astonishing that someone can refuse to fully inform himself on an issue, yet still expect his calls for draconian action to be taken seriously.
It appears that Mr Banville's position is based primarily on hearsay, as relayed by a spokesperson for an extremist animal rights group. I would be interested to know if he accepts everything NARA says without question.
Does he join it in calling for all humans to be vegans? Does he support its view that horse-racing, greyhound racing, zoos and aquariums should be banned? Does he agree that "humans have no right whatsoever to wear leather, wool or silk", as stated on its website?
Or perhaps Mr Banville might concede that animal rights issues are not quite as black and white as NARA would have us believe? - Yours, etc,
JACK NORTHWOOD, Murrumbeena, Victoria, Australia.