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Saturday, April 2, 2011

This is Jeopardy!

Players, today’s Final Jeopardy category is ...



Animal Use Ethics
at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison




Players, write down your wagers.

Let's reveal the answer to today’s Final Jeopardy question:




0%




Cue the tune: Do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Do. Do-do. Do-do. Do. Do. Boom, boom.

Alright players:

Let’s see what you wrote:




What percentage of UW vivisectors give a second thought to the morality of hurting animals?




No, I’m sorry, that’s not right. And you wagered? Everything. Sorry, that leaves you with nothing.

Moving on. You put:




What percentage of the many UW primate vivisectors who spoke out against the creation of a county-sanctioned citizens’ panel to examine the university’s use of monkeys also attended and asked a question at one of the university forums put on to appease certain County Supervisors?





No, I’m sorry, that’s not right either. And you wagered? Everything. Sorry, that leaves you with nothing as well.

Now to our returning champion. Let’s see what you wrote down:




What part of the university’s current use of animals has been addressed in the three public ‘forums’ held to address the university’s current use of animals?




That’s the correct answer! Let’s see what you wagered: everything. Good job. That makes you the winner and still our Jeopardy champion.

Oh, oh. Wait a minute. The judges have ruled that all the answers are correct.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What fraction of the lay public agrees with the goal of abolishing all animal research?

And your answer is... 0%?

That's incorrect. The correct answer is 0.25%.

Oh, wait... the judges agree the answer it is within rounding error and we have a winner!

Jeremy Beckham said...

Anonymous,

Actually it appears that percentage would be 48%.

58% of adults aged under 30.

See: http://people-press.org/http://people-press.org/files/legacy-pdf/528.pdf

Anonymous said...

@Jeremy,

So 50% of the audience was against the use of animals in research and was asking questions?

Jeremy Beckham said...

That wasn't your question. Your question was:

"What fraction of the lay public agrees with the goal of abolishing all animal research?"

The makeup of the "lay public" is surely different than those who were in the audience for this "forum." The audience surely consisted of a much higher percentage of people who are generally more educated and interested in the issue. (If the County would have held discussions on the issue, on the other hand, I suspect a more representative proportion of the general public would have turned out.)

In an attempt to answer your original question, regarding the percentage of the lay public who oppose animal experimentation, I provided a link to a 2009 Pew Research Poll which shows that number to be approximately 48%. I understand that such polls are imperfect, but they provide the best data available. And it clearly indicates that your %0.25 figure is ridiculous.

Rick said...

Anonymous: "So 50% of the audience was against the use of animals in research and was asking questions?"

What audience?

Jeremy Beckham said...

"[Pro-vivisection lobbyist group Foundation for Biomedical Research] found "a surprisingly concerning drop in public support" for animal research from the 1990s, when it was over 70 percent, to 54 percent in 2008, [spokesperson Frankie] Trull said."

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Drugs/animal-research-billboards-pit-cute-girl-lab-rat/story?id=13371007