by Mary Byron, Historian of Nu Rho Psi at UVA
Hello! My name is Mary Byron and I am a third year majoring in Cognitive Science with a concentration in Neuroscience, along with a minor in Urban and Environmental Planning. I am also the historian of the Nu Rho Psi chapter at UVA. I’m going to be talking about the ethics of animal research and the valuable work being done in the Lynch lab at UVA.
I’ve been vegan since I graduated high school almost 3 years ago. As a second year undergraduate student I applied for a research assistant position in the Lynch Lab at UVA, where we study substance use disorder and neuropharmacology using a rat model of drug addiction. In my interview the lab manager explained to me all the duties and responsibilities that I would have in the lab, including handling and administering drugs to the rats. I was comfortable with this work as I had hamsters growing up and thus am experienced handling rodents. It wasn’t until my actual first day in the lab that I came face to face with my own ethical dilemma when I observed a euthanasia procedure which involves decapitating the rat with what is basically a tiny rat-sized guillotine straight out of the French Revolution. To be frank, I was horrified. I had no idea how I, an animal-loving vegan as well as a cognitive neuroscience student, could reconcile these two halves of myself.
I am vegan because of my love for animals. There are also other positive impacts on general health and reducing climate change as well. I value the rats’ lives and would never want to cause them harm, the same way I would not want to harm another human being. As a research assistant in the Lynch lab, I make it a priority to ensure that the rats are being cared for with the utmost compassion and comfort. While I recognize this does not negate the fact that we do end their lives for the purpose of human research, I believe it can be done in a humane way. The training to become a research assistant involves a fairly intensive animal ethics training and there are protocols in place if an animal is ever reported to be receiving less than stellar care. The euthanasia procedure is a two-step process that is quick and painless. They are first knocked out with CO2 gas and then decapitated to ensure death. They are not awake for the decapitation and feel nothing.
Again, I’d like to recognize that we are in fact killing these animals. I do not mean to downplay this in any way. However, it must also be acknowledged that the work being done in the Lynch lab is incredibly important to the field of addiction. The Lynch lab has an intermittent access model of addiction optimized to study sex differences, something that, until recently, has been vastly ignored in the study of substance use disorder. While I value the lives of our lab rats as a vegan, the research being done has the potential to impact thousands of human lives.
If you are thinking about working in a rat lab (or other lab that uses non-human animals), it is a big decision. Be sure to talk to the lab’s principal investigator about any concerns you have and be clear on what your duties and responsibilities in the lab will be. My lab has never expected me to do a decapitation myself and I’m very grateful for that, but that is not necessarily the case with all labs out there. Lastly, if anyone would like to chat more about this topic or neuroscience in general, feel free to reach out to me at mcb4vq@virginia.edu.