Lethal Laws: Animal Testing, Human Health and Environmental Policy - Softcover

Fano, Alix

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1856494985 ISBN 13: 9781856494984

Publisher: Zed Books, 1997

Synopsis

For the last 150 years, chemicals have been tested on animals for the alleged purpose of protecting the public from their dangerous effects. Lethal Laws reveals that using animals as human surrogates is not only unethical, it is bad science. Alix Fano provides a meticulous analysis of the technical and scientific problems that have plagued animal tests for decades, but which have not been forcefully challenged until now. She shows how animal testing has been used as an alibi to allow the continued use of thousands of toxic chemicals. In a field dominated by male voices, this is a pioneering work by a woman that effectively demonstrates the causal link between animal testing and environmental degradation, and the subsequent deterioration of human health.

About this title

About the Author

Alix Fano is a New York-based freelance writer and activist who, for the past ten years, has written about health, animal advocacy, and environmental issues, having had opinion pieces published in The New York Times and other US-based newspapers and magazines. She holds a Master's degree in Urban & Environmental Policy from Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. Formerly the Media Director for the London-based group Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible Medicine, she is currently Coordinator for the Medical Research Modernization Committee in New York City. This is her first book.

From Publishers Weekly

Activist Fano has strong opinions on both animal testing and environmental damage, describing herself as "outraged" that such "heinous" activities can take place in a supposedly modern society. Lethal Laws, however, concentrates on science, not emotion. By taking a rational approach, Fano hopes to "convince skeptics to think critically," while helping activists become "informed and empowered." Emphasizing the often neglected connection between animal advocacy and environmental protection, Fano rightly points out that anyone who considers themselves a lover of the environment must respect the animal life that is part of it. She gives detailed accounts of the various toxicity tests laboratory animals undergo, then sets out to show that such tests could be performed more quickly, cheaply and effectively by using newly developed in vitro methods. As the abbreviations and footnotes pile up, the book takes on the tone of a research journal written for?and read by?specialists. Fano does provide helpful guidelines on specific new technologies and includes a how-to guide for activists wanting to take on companies that rely on animal testing. But as for her goal of eradicating the "professional disagreement, bureaucratic inertia, and political maneuvering within the scientific and regulatory communities," this book won't attract the number of readers necessary to spark public outrage about current testing methods.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Zed Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1856494985
• ISBN 13: 9781856494984
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 242