Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals

Chapter 2 of Singer’s Animal Liberation describes the world of animal experimentation. At the beginning of the chapter, Singer mentions the 1987 film Project X, which exposed the American people to idea of animal experiments carried out by the military. The film is fictional, but the experiments mentioned within are not. The reality of the experiments is far harsher than depicted in the film. According to Singer, the Brooks Air Force Base in Texas conducted a gambit of tests on monkeys; after the chimps were taught how to use a control stick in a platform that mimicked the turbulence of a plane, they were then exposed to radiation and chemicals to see how these would affect their ability to “fly.” Singer lists the starvation, electric shocks, and psychological and physical torture these animals receive throughout the experiment. The data gathered is published to higher-ups without their knowing that animals are the primary subjects of the experiment.

In 1973, the American people are made aware that the United States Air Force purchased two hundred beagle puppies for the purpose of performing experiments on them, and there is a public outcry against it. After receiving an influx of letters and complaints, the Department of Defense announces that they will be postponing the tests.