ABSTRACT
Anti-vivisectionists charge that animal experimenters are speciesists: people who unjustly discriminate against members of other species. Until recently, most defenders of experimentation denied the charge. After the publication of "The Case for the Use of Animals in Biomedical Research" in the New England Journal of Medicine, experimenters had a more aggressive reply: "I am a speciesist. Speciesism is not merely plausible, it is essential for right conduct" (Cohen 1986: 867). Many researchers now embrace Cohen's response as part of their defense of animal experimentation.
