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I personally work with people in my lab and don't really have any opportunity to think about animal reserach, so it was very interesting to hear from people who have a lot of experience in this area. The only time I used animals in a lab was when I dissected a frog and a rat in intro lab (so I guess this isn't even really for reserach purpose), and I remember being very surprised about how my feelings changed drasticlly just during that lab period.  Having grown up in the city my whole life, I am not what one would call a nature-lover, but at first I felt extremely hesiatant about even looking at the dead animals soaked in chemicals.  However, within minutes I found myself immersed in the task of dissecting these animals.  My face was within a few centimeters away from their bodies, and I was so interested that I couldn't pull my body away from the bench.  The whole task had become "a project "in my mind, and I really was not thinking at all about the fact that these animals may have been running around freely.  And to be honest, I really was not thinking about whether their life was worth my education (probably not), because I was just so engrossed in the task.

I think that people made some really good points about the cost and benefits of animal research.  However, I am sure there are at least some occasions where animals' lives get sacrificed just for people to pursue their interst.  After all, it is so much more easier to say, "Hey, I'm interested whether doing A would lead to B, let's try it out on a flea" than to say something similar for a person.   Though I'm not trying to support "unethical"  use of animals in research, isn't it important for people to be able to pursue their curiosity too?  If we are just curious about something and want to try it out, we can't really do that on a human being...