Students For Ethical Science

Do you care for the welfare and happiness of non-human animals?

As an Open University student society affiliated to the OU Students Associations, Students for Ethical Science (SES) aims to persuade the Open University peacefully to replace its harmful use of animals in Life Sciences with academically equivalent or superior non-harmful alternatives.

Historically, we have provided information and support to students who wish to study Life Sciences without harming animals or who are interested in learning more about animal ethics issues. The good news in recent years, for students who have concerns about the suffering of animals resulting from their use in education and research, is that it is now possible to study at undergraduate level for Life Sciences qualifications at the Open University without causing harm to animals.

The realisation that using animals is not only not necessary for medical research, but that it could be counter-productive leading to misleading results, strengthened my interest in Students for Ethical Science and motivated me to get actively involved. Using one species to model disease and treatment outcomes in another species is scientifically flawed, leading to unreliable results. Technological advances have dramatically expanded the techniques available for carrying out scientific research and investigation, making attempts at justifying harming sentient living organisms obsolete.

For SES to continue as OU student society we need new members, a Chair, Secretary and Treasurer. Anyone interested in animal welfare or ethical research in Life Sciences can contact us at ses.membership@blueyonder.co.uk

Membership is open to current and former OU students and staff. If enough people are interested, I can organise an Annual General Meeting for creating a new committee and discussing ideas for future society aims and activities.

I would be willing to continue to maintain the SES website, but I would need help to do so. The site includes information about Life Sciences study at the OU, past newsletters and lists of books and links to websites for finding out about the use of animals in research and Life Sciences and medical research methods without harming animals. As Brexit has been turning into a perpetual process putting political satirists out of work, the legal information on the SES website is not changing as soon as I thought it would. You can see this at www.ouses.org.uk/legal.html

There is more information on the SES website at www.ouses.org.uk

You can also find out more by visiting the OU Students Association Ethical Science forum on the Virtual Learning Environment.

Posted on behalf of Diana Isserlis