I BOIL POTATOES LIVE

Giuliano Grignaschi, responsabile del Benessere degli animali Università di Milano, co-autore di Io le patate le bollo vive (Einaudi)

Roberto Sitia, docente di Biologia molecolare Università Vita e Salute San Raffaele di Milano, co-autore di Io le patate le bollo vive (Einaudi)

It may be that, feeling at the peak of an almost bionic evolution, Homo Sapiens, particularly in the West, is developing a rather unnatural view of life and death. Death, especially, with its accompanying pain and illness, increasingly seems to be perceived as a virtual discomfort that we can simply do without. An unknown virus threatens to decimate us? No worries, we've seen this movie before: before the credits roll, "the scientists," no matter how unlikable they might be, will surely find the cure. We know this. The crucial thing is that they do it quickly, just as quickly as we wish to forget about them and the virus (or whatever threat it may be), now virtually eradicated by a drug, a therapy, a vaccine. How "the scientists" achieve this matters little during an emergency. But once the crisis passes, we quickly return to criticizing biomedical research—because, as we all know, it "harms" animals and plants—and sometimes even physically attacking researchers who "vivisect" innocent forms of life without reason. Feeling either moved or outraged by these issues is, virtually, almost a duty for the civilized Human. We know that too. But do we really know? More importantly, what do we actually know about animal experimentation? Do we know, for instance, that it is governed by strict, recent, and continuously evolving legislation? That an Animal Welfare Body is an integral part of every research team? That significant progress is being made in replacing living cells in experiments with in vitro or in silico models? That an animal's contribution to a research protocol might be as minimal as a small blood sample?