The Euthanasia Euphemism: On the Deceptive Use of ‘Euthanasia’ in Animal Research Protocols

The routine killing of healthy animals at research endpoints is labeled “euthanasia,” but is not. This euphemism concerning millions of animal deaths annually misleads the public on the morally fraught issue of animal research. The historic and everyday meaning of “euthanasia” includes two individually necessary and jointly sufficient conditions: (1) humane reason – the killing is for the good of the being killed, i.e. they are better off dead or alive, and (2) humane method – the sentient being is killed in a manner free of pain and distress. The U.S. Animal Welfare Act (1966) informs current federal guidelines for animal research, yet it requires (2) humane method but not (1) humane reason. The American Veterinary Medical Association’s 2020 position correctly defines euthanasia by including both provisions, but their definition is applied incoherently to include killing “unwanted” healthy animals. Euphemistic language at the highest levels of ethical oversight is deceptive and should change, tracking changing attitudes towards animals in the public imaginary.

Dr. Joel MacClellan is the Director of the Environment Program and Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University New Orleans with primary research and teaching expertise in Bioethics, broadly construed, and especially ethics at the intersection of animals & environment. A returned Peace Corps Volunteer from the Community Environmental Conservation Program in Panama, he has field experience on these topics via a USAID-funded green iguana conservation project. Dr. MacClellan’s work has been published in the Journal of Value Inquiry, Ethics & Environment and Between the Species. His ethics leadership is put in practice in various ways such as being Loyola’s representative on the Jefferson Parish Ethics and Compliance Commission, Coach of Loyola’s Ethics Bowl Team, the non-scientist academic on Loyola’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, and the ethicist on Loyola’s Institutional Review Board.