I once lost a debate with an animal rights activist. As a medical researcher who has been actively involved in experiments on rodents, this may come as a surprise to some. I lost the debate because once debates about the use of animals in medical research pass the facts, the stringent Home Office protocols in place to "Replace, Reduce and Refine" and the genuine care and respect for animals that animal researchers tend to have, they inevitably reach the point of the intrinsic worth of one creature over another.