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Animal testing ethical issue
Benefits of animal testing
Benefits of animal testing
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Today’s society is based on anthropocentrism, a world view that human being have priority. Members of other species are used daily today for many things. Animal flesh, eggs and milk are used as a means of consumption. Some are used as pets for companionship, for hunting and plowing on farms, and can even be used as entertainment at shows and circuses. Police, and residents also use dogs for protection from others and the skin and wool of animals are used for unnecessary items such as clothing, wallets, purses and shoes. Although using animals for some of these things seems irrational to some, animals are also being used for something much more horrifying, animal experimentation. Knowing animal experimentation causes suffering, and we can and should experiment without using members of other species because what works on animals doesn’t work on humans, does it still make experimenting on members of other species morally justifiable?
Each year, more than 100 million animals are killed in the U.S. for animal experimentation. Although this number sounds horrifying, the tests they must endure that lead to their death are even more atrocious. Tests are done on many animals, including mice, rats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, frogs, dogs, cats, monkeys, and fish. A common test is the Draize Eye Irritancy Test which is primarily performed on rabbits. In this test, the rabbit’s heads are placed in a device to keep them stabilized, then a substance such as bleach shampoo, nail polish or chemical cleaners is placed in one eye. The author also adds, the rabbits sometimes “snap their neck in their frantic attempts to escape.” The animal is then kept in confinement and studied to measure eye irritation and the effect the chemical had on their...
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... species and we should not be performing experiments on them either. 100 million animals are killed in the U.S. alone for animal experimentation. When will the human race put an end to this horrifying matter? When will the human race realize, animals suffer just as we do. Experimenting on animals is immoral and there is no question about it. They feel pain, just like we do. They hurt, just like we do. They deserve moral consideration, just like we do.
Works Cited
Stone, Oliver. "Animals Used for Experimentation: Oliver Stone Exposes Horrific Military Training Video." PETA. People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014
Boss, Judith A. "Animal Experimentation." Analyzing Moral Issues. 6th ed. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Pub., 1999. 619-24. Print
"Animal Experiments: Overview." PETA. People for Ethical Treatment of Anim, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2014.
She sits alone in a threadbare, chilly, metal cage. Her eyes dart around wondering when the next torture will commence. If the testing fails to kill her, the stress definitely will. Entering is the doctor who plans to perform an eye irritancy test. The rabbit’s eyes will be held open with clips for at least three days if she survives that long (“Frequently Asked Questions”). Similarly, if these procedures would be performed on a human, they would be considered illegal. Yet, scientists continue to make harmless animals suffer incessantly. Annually, countless animals are abused in American test labs; however, alternative practices should be implemented in order to participate in worldwide trade, save innocent lives, and provide more accurate data.
Both in and out of philosophical circle, animals have traditionally been seen as significantly different from, and inferior to, humans because they lacked a certain intangible quality – reason, moral agency, or consciousness – that made them moral agents. Recently however, society has patently begun to move beyond this strong anthropocentric notion and has begun to reach for a more adequate set of moral categories for guiding, assessing and constraining our treatment of other animals. As a growing proportion of the populations in western countries adopts the general position of animal liberation, more and more philosophers are beginning to agree that sentient creatures are of a direct moral concern to humans, though the degree of this concern is still subject to much disagreement. The political, cultural and philosophical animal liberation movement demands for a fundamental transformation of humans’ present relations to all sentient animals. They reject the idea that animals are merely human resources, and instead claim that they have value and worth in themselves. Animals are used, among other things, in basic biomedical research whose purpose is to increase knowledge about the basic processes of human anatomy. The fundamental wrong with this type of research is that it allows humans to see animals as here for them, to be surgically manipulated and exploited for money. The use of animals as subjects in biomedical research brings forth two main underlying ethical issues: firstly, the imposition of avoidable suffering on creatures capable of both sensation and consciousness, and secondly the uncertainty pertaining to the notion of animal rights.
(Intro)Nonhuman Animal Experimentation is defined as the use of nonhuman animals in research and development projected for the sole purpose of determining the safety of substances such as foods or drugs. According to The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), scientific experiments have required animals to “inhale toxic fumes,... remain immobilized in restraint devices for hours,... suffer through the drilling of holes into their skulls,... withstand the burning of their skin,... and endure the agony caused from the crushing of their spinal cord”(“Animal experiments: overview,” n.d.). Testing harmful products on animals everyday creates a long lasting effect on the animals. That is to say, numbers of animals have been diagnosed with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and have become so afraid of humans that they crawl into a corner everytime they see a person.
Driscoll, Sally and Laura Finley. “Animal Experimentation: An Overview.”Points Of View: Animal Experimentation (2013): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 6 Feb. 2014
“Animals and Research Part 4: Ethics of using animals in research.” Editorial. Seattle Post-Intelligencer 20 Apr. 2000 <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/anml4.shtml>.
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
A Student Guide to Balancing the Issues. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Animal Experimentation. Web. 1 May 2014.
On the other hand, animal experimentation has brought us so far, and without it, we would not be where we are today. Losing animal experimentation would cause many people to lose jobs, and we would not advance in medical technologies. No one would be guaranteed safety when using a product designed to help them. It would do more harm if we stopped animal experimentation. Plus, it's not only designed to help humans, but it helps animals as well. So technically we are helping both animals and humans. Over all its very important to test on animals to get what we need, in addition there isn't much else scientists can test on.
In modern society, animal experimentation has triggered a controversy; consequently, vast amount of protests have been initiated by the animal rights community. Although these organizations have successfully broadcast their concerns toward animal experimentation, its application continues to survive. Sally Driscoll and Laura Finley inform that there remain fifty million to one-hundred million animals that experience testing or experimentation throughout the world on a yearly basis. But despite opposition, animal experimentation, the use of experiments on animals in order to observe the effects an unknown substance has on living creatures, serves multiple purposes. Those particular purposes are: research of the living body, the testing of products, and the advancement of medicine.
Wolff, Jonathan. "Pro and Con Positions Oversimplify Animal Experimentation Issues."Animal Experimentation. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2009. At Issue. Rpt. from "Killing Softly." Guardian. 28 Mar. 2006. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 2 Mar. 2014.
Using animals for medical experimentation, product testing, and education is a controversial subject that often leads to a large argument. While the problems can go into detail, the suffering involved in animal experimentation is painfully clear. Every year there are tens of millions of animals that die in federally and privately funded experiments. A projected 90 percent of all animals used in research are rats and mice, and many other species including guinea pigs, dogs, cats, rabbits, nonhuman primates, and farm animals are killed every year to animal testing. (UGA) The experimentation of animals and testing has not stopped because it is not the most accurate or reliable means of research, but because of the tradition, peer pressure, and large amounts of funding from those with strong invested interests into the business. (UGA)
One of the largest controversies involving the testing on animals is the harm that is inflicted on them. Proof lies in the many leaked photographs showing the horrific pain that has been forced onto beings that cannot speak for themselves. A test called Lethal Dose 50%, or LD50, is a test to assess cosmetics such as lipstick, nail polish, skin care products, and others. This can leave the rabbits, dogs, mice, or other unfortunate animals left crippled with severe untreated chemical burns. During the assessment of the product the animals are force...
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1976. Call Number: HV4711.A56. American Medical Association. The “Animal Experimentation Benefits Human Health”. Animal Rights Opposing Viewpoints?
Retrieved from http://www.peta.org/issues/used-for-experimentation/animal-testing-101/.
Orlans, F. Barbara. In the Name of Science:Issues in Responsible Animal Experimentation. New York: Oxford UP: Oxford UP, 1993.