“Differences in reaction to toxic substances vary considerably between species so that the value of these tests remains doubtful. Although thalidomide was extensively tested on animals in several countries, its terrible properties were not discovered. Conversely, penicillin, the greatest medical discovery of the century, was not extensively tested on animals before its miraculous therapeutic qualities were demonstrated in human patients. If it had been fully tested on animals its high toxicity for guinea pigs would have almost certainly prevented its clinical use.”
Experiments on Animals (1971)
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Richard D. Ryder 5
British psychologist 1940Related quotes
Source: Against a Scientific Justification of Animal Experiments, p. 351

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984), as quoted in Milan Kundera (2003) by Harold Bloom, [//books.google.it/books?id=SXDojRJFMPIC&pg=PA91 p. 91]
Context: True human goodness, in all its purity and freedom, can come to the fore only when its recipient has no power. Mankind's true moral test, its fundamental test (which lies deeply buried from view), consists of its attitude toward those who are at its mercy: animals. And in this respect mankind has suffered a fundamental debacle, a debacle so fundamental that all others stem from it.

“So-called alternative medicine either hasn’t been tested or it has failed its tests.”
The Enemies of Reason (August 2007)
Context: If any remedy is tested under controlled scientific conditions and proved to be effective, it will cease to be alternative and will simply become medicine. So-called alternative medicine either hasn’t been tested or it has failed its tests.

Reported in Dennis V. Parke, "Clinical Pharmacokinetics in Drug Safety Evaluation," in ATLA: Alternatives To Laboratory Animals https://books.google.it/books?id=WMZNAQAAIAAJ, vol. 22, no. 3, May/June 1994, p. 208.
The context is: "the present approach to drug safety evaluation, based on experimental animal studies, is known to be of questionable scientific veracity and has never been satisfactorily validated as an appropriate surrogate system for man. My former teacher, Sir Alexander Fleming, in his late years, chided me, saying …"

Original: La musica è una sostanza sublime ad elevate reazioni emozionali da testare accuratamente nel laboratorio del nostro cuore.
Source: prevale.net

“The test of the moral quality of a civilization is its treatment of the weak and powerless.”
United States ex rel. Caminito v. Murphy, 222 F.2d 698, 706 (1955).

Source: Man Plus (1976), Chapter 4, “Group of Probable Pallbearers” (p. 41)

p. 25 http://books.google.com/books?id=Td-qAAAAIAAJ&q=%22In+a+democracy+dissent+is+an+act+of+faith+Like+medicine+the+test+of+its+value+is+not+its+taste+but+its+effect%22&pg=PA25#v=onepage
The Arrogance of Power (1966)

The Enemies of Reason (August 2007)