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Is animal testing ethical
The benefits of testing on animals for medicine
Negative impacts on animal testing
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As the medical community works tirelessly to find cures for some of the world’s most deadly diseases, the use of new technology has propelled them to life-saving discoveries, allowing research and testing without actual test subjects. These cures come in the form of medications and treatments that can take years if not decades of development simply to get them ready to be tested. While some of this research is done without any test subjects, many researchers still employ a method that has been used for centuries: testing on animals. The ethics of this method has been the subject of controversy for almost as long as its use and has been a catalyst for discussion, both sides believing themselves to be right. One point in opposition of animal …show more content…
To completely eliminate all animal testing could have a detrimental effect on medical research, specifically psychology (Bennett). Without the Nobel prize winning dog salivation experiment of Ivan Pavlov, classical conditioning may not be as understood as it is today (“Pavlov’s Dog”). Studying how great apes learn and communicate has been essential in revelations about our own evolution (Bennett). Losing animals as a means for medical research could mean losing future discovery and, “understanding [of] the neural, behavioral, cognitive, developmental, physiological, genetic and biological processes that contribute to human and animal health and disease” (Bennett). To certain medical communities, the benefits of animal research far outweigh the …show more content…
Going back to the cat experiments being performed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the photographs of the cat test subjects were disturbing. However, when all of the information about the testing was divulged, with revelations such as the fact that this was a test for cochlear implants and everything done to the cat test subjects has since been done to humans, the procedures being performed become more accepted. By describing procedures without context, they can sound barbaric. Hearing about an animal test subject enduring a procedure where, “a device is surgically implanted into the shoulder area. Wires are then forced into veins in the chest, and electrical impulses are sent through these wires” doesn’t seem as terrible when it is also known that this was the procedure, “to implant a pacemaker into a 14-year-old child with a heart problem”
The types of experiments performed at the University of Buffalo and the University of California depicts just some of the few horrors of animal testing. According to the article, during these experimentations the eyes of monkeys were implanted with metal coils into their eye sockets in order to study movement ("Update: Animal Testing"). Often times animals are tested upon in laboratories, living in cold isolated environments. The moral aspect of the debate, is whether or not animals should be utilized and later euthanized for the purpose of human benefit, especially when only one party decides. As a resu...
Without animal research, cures for such diseases as typhoid, diphtheria, and polio might never have existed. Without animal research, the development of antibiotics and insulin would have been delayed. Without animal research, many human beings would now be dead. However, because of animal testing, 200,000 dogs, 50,000 cats, 60,000 primates, 1.5 million hamsters, and uncounted millions of rats and mice are experimented upon and die each year, as living fodder for the great human scientific machine. Some would say that animal research is an integral part of progress; unfortunately, this is often true. On the whole, animal testing is a necessary evil that should be reduced and eliminated whenever possible.
The information that animals have provided scientists over the past decades has changed society, and is still changing society for the better. Millions of lives have been saved with the use of animal testing and many more will be saved with continued research. However, there are many who dismiss this monumental achievement completely and oppose the use of animals in laboratory research. Though many find this practice to be
Since psychology’s founding, animals has been used as an important way for psychologist to test their hypnosis, and conduct experiments. From Pavlov’s experiments with Dogs and response, to a modern lab studying the brain of sleeping rats, Animals have provided a huge opening in psychological testing. A significant amount of psychological tests would be impossible without the use of animals. Some people claim the psychological research on animals is inhumane citing psychological test involving electric shocks. Others, however, claim that psychological testing on animals, not only provides important research to help improve the lives of both people and animal, but also creates a way to preform test that would be impossible with human subjects.
Animal experimentation has always been a highly debated topic. Many have argued for the use of animal experimentation claiming that animal experimentation is the only possible way to find medical treatments to preserve human life. However, animal rights activists have argued that animal experimentation is futile and that it is unethical to use the life of an animal for experimentation without the animal’s consent. Although both sides of the debated issue present reasonable opinions, the use of animals for experimentation is the most effective form scientists have in order to find medical breakthroughs. In Jane Goodall’s essay “A Question of Ethics,” she argues that animals should not be experimented on because there are more advanced alternatives than using animal lives. In Goodall’s defence, we should not support activities
According to the California Biomedical Research Association, almost every medical advancement in the last 100 years is a direct result of animal testing and research. The use of animals has become standard procedure in a wide range of testing and experimentation, including product toxicity testing, biomedical and veterinary experiments, drug development and testing, and education. Major advancements in treating and understanding chronic conditions such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, malaria, and tuberculosis, have been achieved due to animal research. Also, the development of pacemakers, cardiac valve substitutes, and anesthetics are also direct results of the testing and observation of animals. On the other hand, many people believe that animal testing is cruel and inhumane. In many laboratories animals are subjected to force feeding, food and water deprivation, physical restraints, and infliction of pain. Because the animals cannot protect themselves, many people argue that exploiting animals to better the lives of humans is wrong and should not be permitted.
Every year approximately 100 million animals are killed as a part of scientific research in the United States alone. Animal testing is a highly controversial practice in the modern world. There are records of animals being used in biological and medicinal research as far back as 384 BCE with the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Many people believe animal testing is unethical as it is bringing harm to animals in order to benefit humans. Ever since the beginning of this practice, animal testing has been used for a variety of purposes, all of which are inhumane and unethical.
January 1st, 1959, W.M.S. Russell and R.L. Burch describes how there should not be a lot of animal testing. Russell and Burch publish “The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique,” which introduces the principles of Refinement, Reduction, and Replacement which are called the Three R’s. Reduction explained that people should use fewer animals in experiments. Replacement explained the use of non-animal alternatives over animals whenever possible. Refinement explained how people should use techniques to alleviate or minimize the invasive procedures that could potentially cause pain, suffering or distress, and to the enhancement animal welfare for the animals still used. The testing of animals have been going on for a long time and even some people have tried to help animals have less extreme conditions while being tested on. There are cases when animals are being treated badly, The Huntington Life Science was beating the anim...
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.
Household objects such as shampoo bottles will often times say the product was not tested on animals. The ethics surrounding animal testing, the use of animals for testing products before they are released to the public for human use, has been debated for years. The main use of animals for testing is to confirm the product being tested is safe for humans, which has to be proven before a product can be released. Cosmetic and household product companies that have moved away from animal testing are consequently “using approved non-animal tests and combinations of existing ingredients that have already been established as safe for human use” (Thew 191). These tests are successful for common products, but are much more difficult to be put into practice
Since experiments are cruel and expensive, “the world’s most forward-thinking scientists have moved on to develop and use methods for studying diseases and testing products that replace animals and are actually relevant to human health” (“Alternatives to Animals”). Companies claim that this sort of cruelty will benefit the human population by testing the “safety” of the products, as they have been for hundreds of years, and although this may have been helpful in the past, scientists have discovered otherwise. “While funding for animal experimentation and the number of animals tested on continues to increase, the United States still ranks 49th in the world in life expectancy and second worst in infant mortality in the developed world” (“Animal Testing Is”). This evidence shows that while we still continue to support and spend money on animal testing, it is not working as well as we thought.
The argument for animal testing is that it yields pertinent information that provides human health benefits. People are under the misconception that animal experiments help humans because experimenters and universities exaggerate the potential of animal experiments to lead to new cures because of the role they’ve played in past medical advances (Animal Rights, 2015). Animal experimentation doesn’t persist because it’s the best method, it persists because of personal bias and tradition.
Throughout centuries medical research has been conducted on animals. “Animals were used in early studies to discover how blood circulates through the body, the effect of anesthesia, and the relationship between bacteria and disease” (AMA 59). Experiments such as these seem to be outdated and actually are by today’s means, scientists now study commonly for three general purposes: (1) biomedical and behavioral research, (2) education, (3) drug and product testing (AMA 60). These three types of experiments allow scientists to gain vast amounts of knowledge about human b...
Millions of animals are used to test consumer products, but they also become victims to experiments for medical research. In The Ethics of Animal Research (2007) both authors state that there have been many medical advances with the development of medicines and treatments as a result of research conducted on animals (para 1). These medical i...
It has long been debated as to whether it is ethical to use animals for experimentation. When considering whether animal research is ethically acceptable or not two main concerns must be raised. The first issue is whether it is absolutely necessary to use animals in order to acquire information that may contribute to the improvement of people’s health and well-being. The second issue is whether the use of animals is defendable on a moral ground.