vivisection
英検プリントで学んだvivisectionについて調べていたところ、欧州市民イニシアチブが2015年に発表した「動物実験禁止についての声明」に関するサイトを見つけました。
STOP VIVISECTION is a European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) that has collected more than 1.150.000 certified signatures asking people to support a paradigm shift in the way biomedical and toxicological research are being conducted. This is the text of our request which advocates the replacement of animal testing with more accurate, reliable, human-relevant methods:
Considering clear ethical objections to animal experiments and solid scientific principles that invalidate the “animal model” for predicting human response, we urge the European Commission to abrogate directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes and to present a new proposal that does away with animal experimentation and instead makes compulsory the use - in biomedical and toxicological research - of data directly relevant for the human species.
Being an ECI (and not a simple petition), STOP VIVISECTION enters the political arena with an entirely new tool for participatory democracy. In fact, the european citizens have acquired, in 2011, the possibility to propose legislation on matters where the EU has competence to legislate. Seizing this opportunity, a group of scientists and lay citizens from everywhere in Europe have submitted an invitation to the European Commission urging the upgrading of the extremely important field of biomedical research, for the benefit of human health, the environment and animal welfare.
vivisectionとはOxford dictionaries.com.でも“The practice of performing operations on live animals for the purpose of experimentation or scientific research (used only by opponents of such work)”と定義されているように「生体解剖、生体実験」を表します。
ラテン語で「生きる」の“vivus”と「解剖」の“dissection”が組み合わさっています。
“vivi”と聞くと他にも“vivid”や“「胎生の」の“viviparous”を思い出しますが、これらも「生き生きとした、生きる」という原義が関連しています。
インターネットでvivisectionを検索すると、今回取り上げたサイトや、“Animal testing”といったページに多くヒットしたことから、この単語は「動物実験」について表す場合によく使われることが分かりました。(flyingbird)
