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Medical testing on animals should be illegal
Medical testing on animals should be illegal
Benefits of animal research and testing
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Animal testing is a controversial subject, due to concerns over how animals are treated, and whether testing on animals is necessary or useful. However, when all points are considered, animal testing is fair for the following three reasons: it leads to medical and scientific breakthroughs; they are similar to humans in many different ways, and therefore provide a way to conduct medical research without risking human safety; and there are laws and regulations in place that ensure that many forms of animal testing are conducted humanely.
The first reason why animal testing is fair is perhaps the most significant. Medical research done using animals as subjects have led to medical breakthroughs that have saved millions of human lives. Medical research on animals can be used to research a number of conditions and illnesses. If this research was not conducted, then our knowledge of medicine would not be as great as it is today. Research in this area has been used to identify whether new medicines will be successful, as well as potential harms
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This makes them appropriate test subjects. In many instances, it is unknown whether a certain medicine or treatment would be harmful to a test subject. The risk involved makes it unethical to use humans for testing purposes, and these tests cannot simply be simulated on a computer or in a laboratory. Due to the genetic similarity between animals and humans, animal testing is a reasonable way to conduct testing methods, without introducing a risk to human safety. Thus, animal testing is fair because of the similarities involved. If they were not available for testing, these experiments might never be done in the first place. If testing were not done on animals, it could be argued that this is actually unethical, because we would not be conducting research that could benefit our own
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.
Medical sciences are required to keep us healthy when there are diseases spreading and animal testing is a key part of this research. Animal test is not wrong because it is the only way to keep ahead in the arms race against disease. Disease keep changing and evolving so scientist must keep researching and making stronger, more potent medicines to combat them. Thus we must use living creatures as test subject for the medicines.
Animal experimentation sends a different message to everyone. The two sides are made of those who think animal testing is beneficial for life and those who think it is unethical and wrong. Those who find these tests to be beneficial are consist of researchers, scientists, and other observers. People and groups who perceive these tests to be cruel and unethical, consist of animal rights activists and organizations that fight for animals rights, such as PETA and ASPCA. Though there are many differences between the two sides, there are also a few similarities. Examples of these similarities include the 3R’s concept and other laws that are fair to both sides. An example of a difference, is the fact that some people think testing leads to medical breakthroughs, while some people think otherwise.
Animal testing began when William Harvey used animals 400 years ago to find out how blood circulated through the body. The "modern" era of animal research however started about 150 years ago with the rise of physiology as a science. It was very different back then. There were no anesthetics or effective painkillers, so the animals suffered a great deal, as did patients. Scientists learned that putting animals, or humans through that type of torture was inhumane. Consider having to have a leg amputated, which was not uncommon in those days due to the fact that infections got very severe without the use of antibiotics, without even so much as an anesthetic to control the pain. Now the treatment is there to help the pain, so neither human nor animal has to go through the excess undue strain. Through all the new medical technology still there will be people who disagree with animal testing. Animal testing provides many benefits that looked over most of the time. One of the most common questions is, “why are animals used in research?” The answer to that question can be broken down into three separate categories.
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.
People have different views to this question, but ultimately multiple tests and studies show that animal testing does not help improve human health. Scientists and researchers have predicted what percent of animal tests are accurate on humans and what percent of human tests are accurate on humans. They predicted that sixty-five percent of animal tests used on humans would be accurate and that seventy-five percent to eighty percent of human-cell line tests used on humans would be accurate ("Product Testing: Toxic and Tragic"). Thousands of people die from animal tested drugs because it is shown that ninety-two percent of animal tested drugs don't work. So, only eight percent do ("Fact! Testing Drugs on Animals Does Not Work to Help Humans"). If people actually looked at the data above, then it could in the end be a winning situation for both humans and animals ("Fact! Testing Drugs on Animals Does Not Work to Help
Every year about 100 million animals suffer through being poisoned, shocked, and burned for unsuccessful medical research. Some may believe that animal testing is a crucial part to medical research and should be used more frequently. Others believe the pain and suffering inflicted upon the animals is morally wrong and should not be done, no matter what benefits come from it.
It should be noted that, animals are metabolically, physiologically, and anatomically unlike from human beings, hence, the tests working on animals can surely prove to be unsuccessful in human beings (Animal Experimentation). Animals react very differently compared to human beings, and therefore, tests done on animals can be hazardous when done on human beings. In addition, even though humans and animals share a number of biological traits, they have biological differences and this is enough reason to question the data obtained from animal experiments and is to be used on humans. It is very wrong to subject animals to cruel procedures in the name of promoting the future human health and this denies them a normal life, yet they are at liberty to yet there is no prove that these tests can work well on human beings. For example, guinea pigs are used in animal experimentation, yet a guinea pig and a human being react very differently to some drugs, for instance penicillin is toxic to a guinea pig, and a cure to human beings. This proves that, any test done on a guinea pig will automatically be unsafe for human beings. Another example is that, drugs that are effective on dogs, or other animals can fail to be effective on human beings. Therefore, it is important to note that, animal testing has its
One of these claims is that animal testing uses the three R’s in order to make testing more humane. These three R’s are reduction, refinement and replacement, meaning that scientists must attempt to reduce doses administered to test animals, refine experiments to make them more humane and try to replace animals altogether. If this method was always used, animal testing would be humane and ethical, but the three R’s are often neglected because the research results are viewed as being more important than the animals. Another claim that animal testing is ethical, is that animal testing has always been essential to medical breakthroughs. Although animals have served as important models for breakthroughs in drugs and medical procedures in the past, modern technology allows us to use more accurate models for testing such as cell structures. The final claim many people make is that animals are not able to feel pain anyway, so testing them does not matter. If an individual has ever observed a dog even step on a sticker and have it caught in their paw, they have seen an animal whimper and cry while hopping on three legs to try to stop the pain. It is a simple and minuscule pain, but animals feel it, so they will feel any pain involved in animal testing as well. Animals should be replaced in
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.
Animal testing is a controversial topic, with two main sides of the argument. The side opposing animal testing states it is unethical and inhumane that animals have a right to choose where and how they live instead of being subjected to experiments. The view is that all living organisms have a right of freedom; it is a right, not a privilege. The side for animal testing thinks that it should continue, without animal testing there would be fewer medical and scientific breakthroughs. This side states that the outcome is worth the investment of testing on animals.
Animals have held 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 to gain 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 our scientific improvement. Experimentation on animals is cruel, unfair, and does not have enough beneficial results to consider it essential.
Throughout the years animal rights groups and organizations have frowned upon animal experiments. Animal testing has been thought to be inhumane and cold-hearted to animals. Because of these accusations medical researchers have to suffer threats from individuals and the media. If animal testing weren’t allowed would that be a drawback in advancement in medical research? Animal testing is beneficial to people because these trails lead to improvements in medical research. Animal experiments have led to finding new cures and vaccines to fatal illnesses. Because animal experiments are helpful in making vaccines to prevent these sicknesses, these trails are the reason so many lives are saved. Animal testing is very necessary and useful to people, but animal rights groups believe that these trails doesn’t benefit humanity. According to Ellen Paul, “Breakthroughs in treating injuries, like practically all medical advances, depend upon experimentation on animals.” Animal experiments have given way to many new instruments to fight against diseases like cancer (Paul). For example, mice and other rodents contributed to scientists developing new tools for fighting different forms of cancers (Paul). Animal testing has helped science in many ways, but animal organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) believe that these experiments are cruel to animals. Even though most animals endure some sort of pain during these experiments, the results are very beneficial to people.
First of all, animal testing should be banned in order to protect the rights of animals. In other words, animals’ rights are infringed by experimenting on them. Animals and humans are similar in many ways. To begin with, they have similar levels of biological complexity. They both are aware that they exist and they both make conscious choices. Philosophy professor at North Carolina State University Tom Regan points out "Animals have a basic moral right to respectful treatment. This inherent value is not respected when animals are reduced to being mere tools in a scientific experiment." (F. B. Orlans) Experimentation on an animal ...
A large issue is animal testing. “More than 25 million vertebrate animals are used in testing in the United States each year. When invertebrate animals are thrown into the mix, the estimated number rises to as high as 100 million.”(dosomething) The laboratory testing of animals is important to biomedical research, product safety testing, and education. Biomedical researchers use animals to extend their understanding of the workings of the body and the processes of disease and health, and to develop new vaccines and treatments for various diseases for humans and other animals. However, the morality, the necessity, or the validity of the studies are questionable. Thousands of animals are helplessly killed every year that animal testing is being conducted. “Ninety-four percent of animal testing is done to determine the safety of cosmetics and household products leaving only 6% for medical research” (about my planet). This can cause harm to the animals and may in turn be fatal. It is not fair nor is it humane to conduct experiments on animals to make sure a product or procedure is safe for us. There are no reasons to regard an animal’s life as if it is insignificant in contrast to a human life. During the testing, animals may be force fed or put in restraints in order for the scientists to get the product into their systems. Ani...