Bonita de Boer Response Paper
Harold A. Jackson
English Composition 1102
Dr. McClure
February 21, 2009
How about it, could you sit in silence and watch your ten year old grand-daughter perish? How could a reasonable human being watch a group of people try to stop research which might save a loved one’s life, and not feel a sense of frustration, anger, or outrage? Bonita de Boer is the spokes person for Avert, an international HIV and AIDS charity based in the United Kingdom. This charity is working to eventually eradicate Hiv and Aids worldwide. They claim to have the world’s most popular website, which can be accessed at www.avert.org. She has written numerous articles pertaining to HIV and AIDS.
In her article HIV Drugs, Vaccines, and Animal Testing, Boer gives a fairly thorough account, featuring views held by those for vivisection of animals and those against this procedure. She argues vivisection is needed as means of developing vaccines and treatments in the search for an Aids cure. Her main stance is that research on animals should be continued, and she gives very well thought out reasons to support her position.
Boer reveals writes that effective drugs to fight HIV are hard to produce, because of the exceptional way this virus has of evolving and changing molecular structure in order to survive. She argues that using humans to test for efficacious drugs in the fight against Aids would be time consuming and potentially dangerous to human life. Boer explains that although there are ethical implications with using animals for this purpose, researchers feel it is necessary to make sure new pharmaceuticals are safe for human consumption. She asks and attempts to answer the question, “Is it really necessary to use animals in the production of HIV drugs and vaccines?” According to this article, the answer to that question is an unequivocal yes. According to Beor, there are at least three reasons why animals may be used in...