Ethical Issues Related to Transgenic Animals - The social opinion on transgenic animal research is divided almost in the middle. Opinion surveys in USA, Japan and New Zealand reveal that only 42, 54 and 58%, respectively, of the people participating in the survey favour such research. The main reasons for opposition of people is as follows.

1. Use of animals in biotechnological research causes great suffering to the animals. But most people seem to accept some animal suffering to serve the basic interest and welfare of mankind; this attitude has been termed as interest-sensitive speciesism.

4. An argument attempts to focus on integrity of species in that each biological species has a right to exist as a separate identifiable entity. But biologists do not regard a species as a fixed, water-tight entity; rather they are regarded as dynamic, constantly evolving groups.

5. Finally, the introduction of human genes into animals, and vice versa, may be seen by many as clouding the definition of "humanness". But most of the known human genes are not unique, and comparable genes do occur in animals. In addition, many retroviruses have integrated into the human genome without any recognisable devaluation of our humanness.