Zoologist and bioethicist, lectures at the Faculty of Artes Liberales, University of Warsaw and acts as president of the Polish Ethical Society.
Author of more than 100 widely cited scientific papers. He has been an active campaigner for the betterment of animals for 25 years. He has held fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution and the US National Research Council, and was an active member of the National Ethical Committee for Animal Experiments in its constitutive term (1999-2003) and the 1st Local Ethical Committee for Animal Experiments in Warsaw (2019-2024). He contributed to the improvement of the Law on the Protection of Animals and the Law on the Protection of Animals Used for Scientific or Educational Purposes. He was the architect of the campaign against ritual slaughter (2012-2014). He supports actions against cruelty to animals and their industrial exploitation with authority and knowledge. Vegetarian since 1983, vegan since 2013.
During the 8th Silesian Science Festival KATOWICE (Saturday, 7 December), Prof. Andrzej Elżanowski will give a lecture entitled ‘Science and animals’.
The development of science has confirmed what became obvious to Darwin: some animals use consciousness, experience suffering and pleasure, and therefore have the same needs and interests as humans, and their lives have an intrinsic (immanent) value - they are ends in themselves and should not be treated merely as means to an end, i.e., for example, models for studying human diseases. The scientific community's handling of animals is of particular importance, as it provides a point of reference for other disciplines