The Controversy of Testing on Animals Facilities that use animals for teaching, experimentations, surgery or testing purposes are known as research facilities. Currently, there are twelve animal research facilities in the state of Alabama ("General Information on Animal Research"). There are many different reasons why animals are used for research. Animals are used to test the products used in cosmetics, for biomedical research, for military defense and food production. Many people including the general public, scientists and government officials do not necessarily agree to the terms and conditions to which these animals are used for testing The optimistic viewpoints for animal testing are that it assists researchers in finding drugs and treatments to advance health and medicine. It is a legal requirement in most countries for drugs and vaccines to be tested in animals to ensure safety. The world would be a different place if animal research for medical purposes were done away with hundreds of years ago. Today many medical treatments have been made possible by animal testing, including cancer and HIV drugs, insulin, antibiotics, vaccines, etc. Animal testing and research is considered very important for improving human health; in fact, the scientific community and some of the general public support animal research. There are also groups of individuals who are against animal testing for cosmetics but they defend animal testing for medicine and the development of new drugs for disease. Incidentally cosmetics companies kill millions of animals every year to test their products. Some of these companies state they test on animals to establish the safety of their products and ingredients for consumers. The Food and Drug Admin... ... middle of paper ... ...esting and research of animals and this is being proven by saving human lives today. Works Cited "Executive Summary." USDA Employee Survey on the Effectiveness of IACUC Regulations (2000): 2. Web. 2 Dec 2009. . "Human Society of the United States." General Information on Animal Research. 2009. The Human Society of the United States, Web. 6 Dec 2009. Sewell, Anna. Web. 6 Dec 2009. . "The Animal Welfare Act: An Overview." United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (2006): n. pag. Web. 2 Dec 2009. . Twchy, Mike. Cartoon. Washington Post 14 Jun. 2005
United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library. Animal Welfare Act. 8 April 2014. 14 April 2014.
...ted States. Department of Agriculture. Animal Care Blue Book. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Animal Welfare Act and Animal Welfare Regulations. United States Department of Agriculture. Web. 23 Dec. 2013. .
Over the past couple of years many companies of these cosmetic products released that they are against animal testing including LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, The Body Shop, and many others. There are still companies that still do test with animals; over 250 on PETA’s website. A large percent of these are well-known companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble, L’Oreal, and others that may surprise the consumer. The majority of these companies are producing the same products yet using different animal testing results. This causes the number of test subjects to be substantially larger than what is needed. The number of tests being conducted could be reduced if these companies either become anti animal testing or share results with other companies. This idea might seem like a long-shot since sharing information with their competitors seems ridiculous. If you take a step back from looking at each individual company, you’ll see that they are all conducting similar tests with similar products. Sharing results of these tests with other companies potentially selling similar products, with the same ingredients, will result in a large drop in animal testing (Search for Cruelty-Free
“Animal Welfare Act as of February 1, 2010.” Animal Welfare Information Center. United States Department of Agriculture. 8 Nov. 2011. PDF. 19 Nov. 2011.
In many parts of the world, animals are being used in laboratories are still suffering and dying to test cosmetics. In
League, Animal Defense. “Policy Statement on Animal Research.” Civil Rights in America. Woodbridge, CT: Primary Source Media, 1999. American Journey.Student Resources in Context. Web. 6 Feb. 2014.
Using animals for research and experimentation has led to cancer survival rates to continue to rise. Using animals for research and experimentation has helped the survival rates rise to many other different sicknesses and diseases. People who suffer from diabetes rely on insulin that was developed through experiments in rabbits and dogs.
Animal testing has been used for developing and researching cures for medical conditions. For example, the polio vaccine, chemotherapy for cancer, insulin treatment for diabetes, organ transplants and blood transfusions are just some of the important advances that have come from research on animals (“Animal Testing”). Consuming animals for research benefits in developing various treatments and also benefits in discovery better methods for cures. According to the article “Animal Testing”, it says that the underlying rationale for the use of animal testing is that living organisms provide interactive, dynamic systems that scientists can observe and manipulate in order to understand normal and pathological functioning as well as the effectiveness of medical interventions. It relies on the physiological and anatomical similarities between humans and other animals (MacClellan, Joel). Meaning that animals have the same body components and features as humans and is the best thing to research on to better understand the human development. Even though several argue that animal testing is harming the animals, one has to think back to all the benefits that has come from it. There may be a little remorse for endangering animal lives, but realizing how far medicine has come makes it worth the while.
However, some people believe that animal testing is beneficial in various ways. Those people that see animal testing as beneficial think that without animals, medical developments would not be where it is today. (Animal Testing) It has helped us to find and ensure the safety of drugs and treatments to improve health and medicine such as; open heart surgery, organ transplants, effective insulin, vaccines for deadly diseases and others. It is the most accurate way to learn the effects of substances in a living body. (Animal Testing) Another reason they see it benefi...
Adams, Johnathan. “Animal Welfare Act and Regulations.” August 22, 2000 [last update] < <a href="http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/legislat/usdaleg1.htm">http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/legislat/usdaleg1.htm > 1996.
Ferdowsian, Hope R. "Ethical and Scientific Considerations Regarding Animal Testing and Research." EBSCO Animals. EBSCO, Sept. 2011. Web. Mar. 2014.
Of course animal testing has contributed towards many life-saving cures and treatments. The California Biomedical Research Association states “nearly every medical breakthrough in the last 100 years has resulted directly from research using animals.” The polio vaccine, tested on animals, reduced the global outbreak of the disease from 350,000 cases in 1988 to 406 cases in 2013. Animal research has also contributed to major advances in treating conditions such as breast cancer, leukemia, malaria, and many others.
The successful use of animal research testing continually offers more answers to advanced technology and medicines. Many human and animal lives have already been saved even though animals are used for research to discover the answers for cures and treatments. The laws governing the research facilities ensure the utmost care and protection for the animal’s safety is monitored along with any research conducted by researchers and their staff. As we look to the future, animal research is a very significant part of discovering new advanced technologies, treatments for diseases, and with new surgery techniques to extend the lives of humans and animals.
Animals have played a major part in medical breakthroughs. Such as the development of anesthetics, which are the chemicals used to make you unconscious during an operation. . Before that surgery was little more than refined butchery. Amputations, removal of bladder stones, caesarean sections and others – were done with the conscious patient strapped to the operating table and screaming.
"Humane Care and Use of Laboratory Animals." AALAS Foundation. 2005. American Association for Laboratory Animal Science. 2012 .