Stumbling blocks and stepping stones

Abstract

It may seem odd to have another chapter after the conclusions. The reason for it is that the conclusions were about methods for assessing suffering, and these, as we saw in Chapter 1, are only part of the total picture of animal welfare. Having focused for most of the book on such methods, we will now move the camera backwards, as it were, and try to take a wider view. Controversies rage. Governments are under pressure to change the laws on the treatment of animals. Scientists are on the defensive over their experiments on animals. Farmers are criticised. But most people go on eating animals, demanding that the products that they eat or wear are tested, wanting better drugs or transplants or vaccines to save their lives.