Controversy and Importance of Animal Testing

Almost every person has received a vaccine in their life. Vaccines intend to protect people from serious diseases that can affect them for the rest of their lives. In order to prevent diseases from spreading, all states require proof of immunization against diseases to be able to attend school. These vaccines were not just there, someone was required to develop them. To do so, these scientists had to run tests and experiments on lab animals. Companies should not be banned from using animals in testing new products, drugs, and vaccines to determine if they are safe for human use.
Animal experimentation, or animal testing, is the act of using non-human animals in place of humans in toxicity tests, experiments that test genetics, developmental biology, behavioral studies, drugs, cosmetics, education, and many other products. Animal testing started centuries ago for two primary reasons; curiosity and convenience. In the Stone Age, people were curious about all of the various blood vessels and organs that were visible inside a creature’s body. Animals were the alternatives to people because live humans were not available or willing to be operated on to satisfy curiosity. Scientists began to cut into living and dead animals, as well as human corpse to learn about the internal construction and the functions of systems. Because of this, animal experimentation became a primary method for learning about anatomy, physiology, and disease processes. In Europe, the Roman Catholic Church forbade the dissection of human corpses. This church law was followed and enforced throughout the country. If an offender was caught dissecting a human’s body, they could be charged with heresy, or ignoring the church’s teachings, which was punishab...

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...n animal test (Judson).
The debate over animal testing centers around two issues: the effectiveness of testing on animals and the ethical questions developed when using humanity’s closest living relatives for experimentation. Animal testing in general has benefited humans and the advantages for humankind outweigh the harm done to animals. Not only is it important for scientists to experiment on animals; it is ethically wrong not to perform those experiments knowing that people will benefit from them (Mur). The scientific community and governments around the world are making progress in their efforts to develop alternative methods. Advances in technology may make the goal for minimized animal testing achievable in the future (Judson). However, controversy over the role of animals in medicine will likely persist as long as some diseases remain uncured (Mur).