I. Introduction to controversy and arguments from both sides
One major topic that has been in question and is now currently being debated is the question whether or not animal testing should be banned? From source #2 “An estimated 26 million animals are used every year in the United States for scientific and commercial testing. [2] Animals are used to develop medical treatments, determine the toxicity of medications, check the safety of products destined for human use, and other biomedical, commercial, and health care uses. Research on living animals has been practiced since at least 500 BC.” While searching for arguments for both both sides of the issue I found some interesting points. From source #1, those who say yes animal testing should
…show more content…
Other imputs say that 90% of medicines tested on animals fail on humans. Then again medicinces that fail on animals work for humans. For example, Aspirin is dangerous for some animal species, and Fk-506 which is used to lower the risk of organ transplant rejection, was "almost shelved" because of animal test results. Not only that but digitalis, a heart drug, cancer treatments, insulin, penicillin and other safe medicines would have been banned if animal testing 's were heeded. More facts found saif that about 33 animals die in laboratories worldwide one in every four seconds. Along with that, animal testing results in a large loss of money, it delays possible remidies, just like blood transfusions were delayed 200 years by animal studies and corneal transplants were delayed 90 years. One last good point made was looking into the future, we can only test certain animals that have common traits and relates as closely as possible …show more content…
Such as what I found from in source #2. Did you know that 95% of animals used in experiments are not protected by the federal Animal Welfare Act, which excludes birds, rats and mice bred for research, and cold-blooded animals such as reptiles and most fish. And that chimpanzees share 99% of their DNA with humans, and mice are 98% genetically similar to humans. Because animals and humans are so biologically similar, they are susceptible to many of the same conditions and illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. One particular fault I found from the side that says yes to banning is that animals can beneift themselves from these tests. Animal research is highly regulated, with laws in place to protect animals from mistreatment. Another fact is animals often make better research subjects than human beings because of their shorter life cycles. Laboratory mice, for example, live for only two to three years, so researchers can study the effects of treatments or genetic manipulation over a whole lifespan, or across several generations, which would be infeasible using human subjects. On the other side for those who say no to banning animal testing also have faults to their points. Alternative testing methods now exist that can replace the need for animals. In vitro (in glass) testing, such as studying cell cultures in a petri dish, can produce more relevant results than animal testing because human cells can
The practice of using animals for testing has been a controversial issue over the past thirty years. Animal testing is a morally debated practice. The question is whether animal testing is morally right or wrong. This paper will present both sides of this issue as well as my own opinion.
Sadly according to the Humane Society International (HSI) article About Animal Testing “in the United states alone around 26 million animals are tested each year for medical and commercial research” (HSI) even though animal testing is not required to ensure that the cosmetic being sold are safe. From those 26 million animals being tested most are not protected by the federal Animal Welfare Act. The animal welfare act does not include birds, rats and mice bred for research, and it doesn’t include cold-blooded animals. Animals testing should be banned because the animals tested suffer immensely, also animal tested is unethical, and because there are many alternatives.
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.
When the issue of Animal Testing is brought up in the course of a conversation, almost every single person that is involved in this discussion will have opinions that differ in some way, shape, or form. Many people will talk about the horrific conditions that animals are forced to live under, as well as the pain and suffering that they must endure while being tested. However, these conditions are not all that horrible when you take into account the state of the world we live in. This issue can be debated back and forth until the end of time. It is an issue involving two totally opposite views, pros versus cons. Pro-Con. The Con side will state that so many animals are needlessly used while in a test, but according to Roger Marshall, large numbers must be used in tests in order to account for statistically reliable results (Marshall 1). The Con side will also say it is not needed, and it serves no purpose, however, animal testing is a great thing, because it can help find cures for human illnesses, it can aid in the advancements of medical procedures, and it can also find cures for illnesses of animals. For many years, performing research on animals has had invaluable benefits for the human race, and without the constant developments we receive from it, we might still be plagued by the most medieval of viruses that we do not even think about in this day in age. The probability of heart attacks, strokes, and kidney failure would greatly increase if we did not possess the medication we can now use to control high blood pressure. According to the American Medical Progress Education Foundation, great advancements have been made regarding cardiology, including coronary blood flow, coronary bypass techniques and high blood pressure medication (Research 2). Many medications have been produced as a result of testing on animals, including insulin, the medication used to regulate diabetes. If animals were not used in medical research, we might still be living in a world where we must fear diseases like polio, smallpox, and even measles. Human Benefits. Medicine alone is not the only thing that has been vastly improved due to animal testing, the way we treat diseases and surgeries has all drastically changed and improved.
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
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
Dr. Jane Goodall, a primatologist and ethologist, believes that animal testing is "morally, and ethically unacceptable". In her article, "So Much Animal Pain, So Little Human Gain", she states that animal testing does not benefit for humans and how much the animal suffer in the experiment. Using animal in research can't always predict the results for humans. There are some cases that even though the experiment succeeded, it wasn't safe for humans. Around 92% of drugs that passed in the animal testing didn't work with humans (Top 5 Reason). The reason is that animals are different from humans. Even though animals can't talk or make judgments like humans, they have emotions, consciousness, and intelligence. The animals can feel stress, fear, and pain during the experiment. She claims that there are alternatives other than animals like using cells, computer models, and more. She also includes that animal testing cost a lot more than the alternatives. The biggest issue when it comes to animal testing is how animals are treated during the experiment. Although animals are protected from the Animal Welfare Act, not all animals that are used for research are not protected. With that, there are chances that they can be ...
Everyday, tons of innocent animals lose their life because of animal testing. The animals have no choice. Also, they suffer extremely. Animal testing is bad and should be banned to alleviate the torture of animals, prevent illnesses in the animals, and prove that it doesn’t always work the same on humans as it did on animals.
Animal testing is widely used to develop new medicines and to test the safety of other products. These experiments can cause pain to the animals involved or reduce their quality of life in other ways. Animal experimenters are aware of this problem and agree that the testing should be made as humane as possible. While this practice has been followed for years now, some people still strongly believe that it is a cruel act and should be permanently banned. Supporters say it is wrong for people to remove an animal from its natural environment and to interfere with its existence.
Not only do we have other options for these tests, but animals testing has actually been proven to be ineffective. 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.Essentially we are torturing the animals for a negative outcome, both for the human and the animal. The Food and Drug Administration reports that “92 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal tests fail in humans” (“Top Five Reasons”). If the products and drugs that we are testing on the animals are not working then there is no use in harming a harmless animal for them. Some may disagree and say that animal testing has enabled us to develop many life saving treatments for both humans and animals. But in reality there has been more cons then pros in animal testing. For example, “Animal tests on the arthritis drug Vioxx showed that it had a protective effect on the hearts of mice, yet the drug went on to cause more than 27,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths before being pulled from the market” (Should Animals Be). While animal testing has enabled us to create great products it is usually ineffective on humans and leads to animals being harmed for no
According to the article” Save the Animals: Stop Animal Testing,” animals’ rights are violated when the sciences are doing the research and there are many similar ways between humans and animals, such as how they feel and behave. Even though animals cannot express their opinions, they still feel, think, and experience pain. When the sciences use animals to do the research, humans still need to respect them because of animals’ rights. Animals have their opinions they cannot explain and humans have a duty to protect animals’ rights. Animal testing should be banned because humans need to respect their minds.
Animal testing is wrong and no matter what the circumstances are, it should never be condoned. Imagine living your life in a miniature cage where your body is unable to move due to the little space surrounding you. Imagine not being able to give your opinion on anything. Your life consists of getting coated in creams which could potentially burn your skin, yet nothing is done to stop it. Picture it as if it were yourself in that situation, you wouldn't like it, would you?
The people claim that, animal testing infringes animal’s rights, makes animal suffering in the experiments, and some of animal experiments may never be useful to human beings. This is true, but we cannot stop animal testing. According to the article “Facts about Animal Research” by Cook (2006), the smallpox has disappeared from the earth because scientists get vaccines from cows. Also, the scientists got insulin, which is the only drug, which can control diabetes, from dogs and fish. Many medicines are related to medical animal experiments, we cannot give up medical animal experiments.
For many years there has been controversy whether or not animals should be tested on between scientists and animal right supporters. It is very debatable if animals should be tested on when a cure for a disease could be found from testing on animals. From my own personal view I have a huge heart for animals, but if we can not find other alternatives, and is possible we can find cures for diseases, then animals may be used for research, but only for medical reasons.
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 ...