Specious Science: How Genetics and Evolution Reveal Why Medical Research on Animals Harms Humans

by C. Ray Greek

This book provides the scientific underpinning for the Greeks' philosophy of "do no harm to any animal, human or not," by examining paediatrics, diseases of the brain, new surgical techniques, in vitro research, the human genome and proteome projects.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Brandy Cross · Rating 3 out of 5]

Update: if you think you want this book, you don't. You want The Costs and Benefits of Animal Experimens by Andrew Knight instead


This is half of a story.
I could have predicted that from the title – after all, it's "How Genetics And Evolution Reveal Why Medical Research On Animals" not, "How Genetics And Evolution Reveal Why Medical Research On Animals And the Alternatives". At the same time, I think it's a sad and lazy oversight to leave out a lot of information and to only tell the side of the story that aligns with your beliefs.

As it stands, Specious Science is either saying, "We don't have a viable alternative to animal experimentation" or "experiment directly on humans". Some (small and far from comprehensive) alternatives are listed, they are not enough. The book also consistently fails to mention the instances where experimentation on humans has been directly carried out by doctors, often unethically and often on ethnic minorities *cough* Sims *cough*, which, in the light of its rampant use throughout modern history must be a deliberate oversight.

I agree with the book in principle. Animal research does little for humans because results are unpredictable when moved to human research. Yet, the approach, tone, and sheer repetition of this book make it terribly unlikeable.

[Tammy BayAreaVeg · Rating 3 out of 5]

It might have been an easier read for me if I had a better science background, but overall consensus in the book club was it's dense. However, chock full of good information. What stood out to me is that animals are so different from us, that any research done on them has results that really are good only for the species of animals that the tests were done on.

Taking results from non-human animal testing and applying it to humans has really hindered effective treatment of illnesses for humans, and wasted a lot of money that could have been better spent on prevention and clinical and in vitro studies.

I bought the book, would like to re-read it again to really absorb the info better.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was actually very disappointed in this book. I loved Sacred Cows and Golden Geese by the same authors. I have a very strong science background and alot of what they had to say was medical gibberish to me. It honestly just seemed that they listed a bunch of medical conditions that people get and at the end of the description told us that animals don't get this condition or animal experiments led researchers in the wrong direction initially. I ended up skimming quite a bit of this book until I got to a point that I could actually understand.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites with a lot of factoids.