--What makes us human? There are dozens of different answers to this question. Some argue that it is our high-functioning brains and self-awareness; others insist it is religion; and there are others who claim it is our dominion over the rest of the animal kingdom. I, for one, think that it is empathy, sympathy, and our capacity for moral reasoning that makes us human. However, there is nothing human about using live animals as test subjects. As the 'higher-functioning' life-forms on this planet, it is our duty to protect and conserve, not exploit and destroy.
--Contrary to what many human beings believe, animals are not inferior or superior to humans. They have feelings, instincts, and basic reasoning skills, although not to the same extent
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However, "the results of testing on animals are different from the results of testing on humans because we have different physiologies and metabolisms" (Callanan 19). While humans and animals are similar in many ways, an animal's reaction to pharmaceuticals does not mirror a human's reaction to the same drug. In spite of there being some exceptions to this phenomenon, there is not enough sufficient medical progress to warrant the continuation of animal …show more content…
This kind of thought pattern not only asserts the idea of human superiority over animals, it perpetuates the idea that animals are disposable. Although there are plenty of people who think that way, I believe that is inhumane and wrong to insist upon the idea that animals are inferior creatures with no intellect or feelings of their own. Animals have been known to have the capacity to mourn, cry, and express other complex emotions. In spite of this, it is seemingly not taken into consideration within the animal testing
The roots of animal experimentation began in the early 1600s when the world expressed in interests on the functions of animals and their uses in human life. However, it wasn’t until the incident regarding the drug thalidomide in 1960 did the government make it a requirement for drugs be tested on animals. During the incident, millions of women took the medication believing that it would be a source of relieve from morning sickness, not knowing however that it would cause irrevocable effects on their unborn children (Watson 4). Although the ruling seemed to provide a sigh of relief to some, the very idea of placing animals in strange uncomfortable environments and experiencing pain and euthanasia angered many. According to the American Anti-Vivisection Society, commonly known as AAVS, It is wrong to treat animals as objects for the purpose of scientific research, and to cause them pain and suffering (“Animal Research Is Unethical and Scientifically Unnecessary”). Although the arguments against animal experimentation seem credible, animal testing on medicines and products are necessary in order to insure the safety of human beings.
There is a moral blind spot in the treatment of animals that enable us to justify the cruelties for the perceived benefits of humans. Animals are living things. They have lungs which breathe, hearts which beat, and blood that flows. In fact, animals sense of smell, sight, and sound is much more acute than our own. Therefore, we can assume that their sensitivity to pain is at least equal to ours. According to Hippocrates, “The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different.” This can go with the Duty Theory that states that every individual gets treated the same. The intentions of animal testing is not to harm the animals, but that is exactly what it does.
“Animals of different ages, sexes, developmental stages, and of different health status can all respond differently to experimental treatments. It is no surprise, then, that humans respond differently to administered pharmaceuticals than other animals” (Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine).Thalidomide being the most well known example was a drug sold between 1957 and 1961 and was marketed towards pregnant women and was said to relieve morning sickness, stress and to help them sleep. The drug was tested thoroughly on mice, with no ill eff...
Every person in this world should accept the fact that animals are living beings just like us. Additionally, every person should accept that animals are not ours to experiment on, to torture or kill them for our own purpose. It is a well-known fact that they are intelligent creatures and most important – they do have the ability to think, to feel anger and happiness, they want to make friends and to have life partners. Can you imagine the pain they feel when they are separated one from another or when they are simply excluded from the freedom to live only to die for cosmetics? Therefore, if we are against keeping people in captivity against their will, torturing them, doing cruel experiments on them and causing them to suffer and bleed to death then we should also be against animal testing. Consequently, if it is immoral and unethical to torture, do harm or kill a person then it should be immoral and unethical to do the same to these innocent living creatures
Imagine a pet, or even a younger sibling, was being tested on, abused, and taunted. Many pets are considered apart of the family. What is enough? Who is going to put a stop to this? What extent should someone go to to protect their family, or even stop it all? While people think it is "okay" to kill animals if it betters the life of humans, it is not okay to abuse or kill animals for experimentations, because animals are living creatures, deserve rights, and the testing rarely benefits since animals do not have the same diseases as humans.
Every year thousands of animals are euthanized due to animal testing such as cosmetic testing, medical testing, and dissection. (A Critical Look at Animal Experimentation) (Types of Animal Testing) Some of the things we use every day such as; make up, soap, furniture polish, and varieties of cleaning supplies, are tested on rabbits, guinea pigs, dogs, cats, and other animals. (Animal Testing) Cosmetic testing is used to test a product and its ingredients, medical testing finds cures for different illnesses; and dissection is used to help high school students in science classes have a better understanding of the class or students undergoing the medical field in college. (Animal Experimentation) Animal testing is not required by law; it is only used to protect companies from consumer lawsuits, provided new research for diseases, and provide a visual learning experiment for students. (A Critical Look at Animal Experimentation) It has been proven that there are more reliable and less expensive alternatives to animal testing, such as; computer models and cell and tissue tests. Animal experimentation should be eliminated because it is an inhumane method for testing purposes.
Animals have always held a very special place in the hearts of the human race. They are our best friends, our stress relievers, members of our families, and our test subjects for experimentation. For hundreds of years, animals have been used in laboratory settings as a replacement for humans when studying the effects of medical treatments. On average, nearly one hundred million animals are used in clinical trials every year (Ferdowsian). These animals have contributed to hundreds of breakthroughs in the medical field including countless toxicity tests to determine drug toxicity to humans, and exposure to paralyzing anesthetics to create anesthesia used in surgical procedures today. These animals have been vital
Animal testing is an immoral, heinous, atrocious act. One should never put an animal before his own life; we are all here on earth due to some strand of evolution or the other, making prejudice and other discriminations (man or not) obsolete and meaningless. Those who would think themselves above another creature are each failures in their own individual way. The rights of animals cannot be questioned, it is an inalienable fact that most do not understand, when given thought that is free of bias and the plague of arrogance, as Arthur Schopenhauer once said: “The assumption that animals are without rights and the illusion that our treatment of them has no moral significance is a positively outrageous example of Western crudity and barbarity. Universal compassion is the only guarantee of morality.” In a society as unquestionably advanced as man, a society in which even the consumption of meat is an indulgence and in no way necessary, the duty of treating all life with anything more than a central nervous system is nothing less than a law.
Current animal testing has been a contentious subject ever since it started off 150 years back. Although a lot of people discover animal testing inhumane and egoistic, it is a important factor to boost our understanding of medication and to improve our understanding of science. Animal testing, to some, is the way to ameliorating our level of living and preserving many lives, and therefore has many benefits. On the other hand, the negatives may not be passed, and scientists are constantly trying to decrease the damages with some methods they create in the process. Even so, to the dismay of numerous animal lovers in addition to those who are endeavoring for animal rights, animal testing will not be stopped every time soon because, for now, it is the most trustworthy form of testing that includes the safety of daily products we use more carefully than any other procedure.
Throughout history, animal testing has played an important role in leading to new discoveries and human benefit. However, what many people forget are the great numbers of animals that have suffered serious harm during the process of animal testing. Animal testing is the use of animals in biological, medical, and psychological studies. The development and enhancement of medical research has been based on the testing of animals. There are many questions being asked if animal research is good or not or if the benefit for us is way greater the abuse of animals. Doing tests on animals can help find ways to cure diseases, but testing on them is wrong. Although we want to find cures for diseases to help many people, testing on animals not only brutally hurts them but it also denies the animals the rights they have.
Throughout history, beginning as early as 500 BC, animals have been used to test products that will later be utilized by humans (“Animal Testing” 4), what isn’t publicly discussed is the way it will leave the animals after the process is done. Many innocent rabbits, monkeys, mice, and even popular pets such as dogs are harmed during the testing application of cosmetics, medicine, perfumes, and many other consumer products (Donaldson 2). Nevertheless, there are many people whom support the scandal because "it is a legal requirement to carry out animal testing to ensure they are safe and effective” for human benefit (Drayson). The overall question here is should it even be an authorized form of experimentation in the United States, or anywhere else? The fact of the matter is that there are alternatives to remove animals out of the equation for good (“Alternatives” 1). They are cheaper, and less invasive than the maltreatment of the 26 million innocent animals that are subjected to the heartlessness of testing each year (“Animal Testing” 4). All in all, due to the harsh effects of animal testing, it should be treated as animal cruelty in today’s society.
“Over 1 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused in U.S. labs” according to DoSomething.org. And although these animals may be considered protected under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) they are still able to be tortured and mistreated in labs. On top of all this, there is absolutely no guarantee that results and data collected from these procedures are accurate. Our anatomic builds are similar in ways but not at all interchangeable. Even though it has saved lives, animal experimentation should be banned because it is not a guarantee that these procedures are done pain free and humans and animals react differently to the medicines and chemicals used.
The debate of whether animal rights are more important than human rights is one that people have argued mercilessly. Some people think all animals are equal. To understand this, humans must be considered animals. Humans are far more civilized than any animal, they have the power, along with understanding to control many types of sickness and disease. This understanding that humans have, keeps them at the top of the food chain.
Should animal testing be banned? Now, animal testing is still a controversial subject, and the scientists are facing an increasing problem, with more and more people appealing to stop animal testing. The original purpose of animal testing was to invent drugs for human diseases. For example, Scutti (2013) states that 98 of Nobel Prizes awarded for Physiology or Medicine, 75 were directly dependent on research from animals. The four non-animal experiment prize winners also relied on the data, which were obtained from other animal research groups.
Animals hold an important spot in many of our lives. Some people look at animals as companions, and others see them as a means of experimental research and medical advancement. With the interest of gaining knowledge, physicians have dissected animals. The ethics of animal testing have always been questioned because humans do not want to think of animals on the same level as humans. Incapable of our thinking and unable to speak, animals do not deserve to be tested on by products and be conducted in experiments for scientific improvement.