The Pros And Cons Of Animal Research

2669 Words6 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Should ànimals be used in research

For hundreds of years, the use of animals in biomedical research has provided invaluable information used for both the understanding of human physiology, and the treatment of human maladies. One need not look far to find breakthroughs in healthcare that can be attributed to animal research. Without prior experimentation with laboratory animals, humans would not enjoy the benefits of many vaccines, including smallpox, anthrax, and tetanus, or pharmaceuticals, including penicillin and lithium. Treatments for cystic fibrosis and AIDS also have some of their roots in animal research (1). Though few would argue that the importance of these types of advancements is undeniable, the fact that nonhuman animals are used in such experimentation is a major point of contention among both those involved in research directly, and the public at large. Arguments for and against animal research are strong, and this issue is unlikely to reach a clear black and white resolution. It is of import for individuals to understand both sides of the matter in order to form and assert their own opinions for both discussion and the governance scientific practice. Research in general has not always been regulated well, or even at all, and research subjects, whether human or nonhuman animals, have historically been exploited and abused in the name of research. Examples of this include the Tuskegee syphilis studies, which involved African American men who were not even made aware that they were included in a study and were kept from treatment when it became available, and the use of inhumanely restrained dogs for live dissection to demonstrate a beating heart (2). Cases like the above made it clear that something needed to be done to protect potential... ... middle of paper ... ...his does not mean that researchers can use them for anything they choose. The key is in the regulation of the research, such that animal research is conducted only when necessary, and in ways that make certain that the animals are treated in a humane manner. Given that this is such a contentious issue, it is likely that the arguments regarding animal research will be ongoing, which may continually allow for checks and balances between the two sides. Humans will thereby still be able to enjoy the benefits of animal research, yet animals will be protected from misuse and exploitation. As technology advances in the field of biomedical research, the use of animals may be increasingly more refined going forward. Investigators must be open to new and improved methodologies in order to both achieve maximum progress, and protect all research subject, human and nonhuman.

Show More
Related

  • Let's Put an End to Animal Research, Testing, and Experimentation

    2009 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Animal Testing Dbq

    597 Words  | 2 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • The Pros of Animal Testing

    1427 Words  | 3 Pages

    Albert Sabin, the developer of the polio vaccine once said, “Without animal research, polio would still be claiming thousands of lives each year.” Polio is a deadly disease caused by a virus that spreads from person to person. This infectious disease renders the brain and spinal cord helpless while also ensuring a permanent case of paralysis to the victim. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “…13,000 to 20,000 para-lytic cases were reported annually,” before the 18th century. After the introduction of the polio vaccine, “…a total of 2,525 paralytic cases were reported, compared with 61 in 1965.” This dramatic decrease in the prominence of the polio disease can only be attributed to the success of animal testing. Animal experimentation is used in the research of genetics, drug testing, biology, toxicity testing, cosmetic testing, and many other fields. Despite all of its beneficial traits, animal testing has been wildly controversial over the past decades because of its perceived unethical treatment towards animals. Although animal testing may be deemed unethical by many, it is a form of medical testing that has not only saved lives but has also greatly revolutionized the medical world.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Animal Testing

    1983 Words  | 4 Pages

    One word comes to mind when I think of animal testing: cruel. Animal testing has been a subject of debate for many years. While most people think that using animals to test products is a reasonable approach, in reality the outcome does not always show how the products will react on humans, and the animals suffer unnecessarily. The United States needs to ban all animal testing like the European Union did because testing on animals is cruel and animals should not be dying from it.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Animal Experimentation

    1261 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Pros of Animal Experimentation

    921 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although not as strictly addressed, there is still a schism when it comes to the matters of experimentation involving animals. Those in opposition of it see it as being against the will of the animal, because animals have no say in the matter. However, through animal experimentation there has been vast medical advances in hospitals and veterinarians , research has led to cures for various diseases that would normally take many more years to cure, and the use of animals is highly ethical considering what could be the alternative, although there is progress being made to change these measures. This is how animal experimentation is of use to society for humans and animals.

    Read More

  • Medical Beneifits Of Animal Testing

    390 Words  | 1 Pages

    When someone goes to the store and buys a product, or is prescribed medication, they don’t have to worry if the product is safe to use nor should they. The entire human race benefits from animal research. “Without animal research, medical science would come to a total standstill”(O’Neil 210). It is not as if Scientist and researchers just sit in their labs all day and torture animals for fun. Not to mention animal use is being reduced as much as possible, “most scientist are glad to use alternative test because they are usually faster and cheaper than test on animals”(Yount 72). However, “you cannot study kidney transplantation or diarrhea or high bloodpressure on a computer screen”(O’Neil 212). Besides, “Animal research has led to vaccines against diptheria, rabies, tuberculosis, polio, measles, mumps, cholera, whooping cough, and rubella. It has meant eradication of smallpox, effective treatment for diabetes and control of infection with powerful antibiotics. The cardiac pacemaker, microsurgery to reattach severed limbs, and heart, kidney, lung, liver and other transplants are all possible because of animal research”(O’Neil 210).

    Read More

  • Medical Research On Animals

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    First, animal testing would provide scientists with new ways to treat diseases. Many vaccines for diseases have been found by testing on animals. For example, millions of people would die per year of diseases that scientists had no idea on how to deal with if they did not take the time experiment on animals first. Heloisa Sabinos of The Wall Street Journal says, “Without animal research, polio would still be claiming thousands of lives each year. There could not have been any oral vaccine without the use of innumerable animals, a very large number of animals” (1). Polio is just the start of diseases cured by these tests. Also, Dr. Joseph E. Murray states, “The research almost certainly will enable doctors to treat leukemia, a plastic anemia and lymphoma patients with human bone marrow that is less than perfect match and open the pool of potential organ donors to include animals” (Los Angeles Times 1). As illustrated, animal experimentation will benefit all living things in the lon...

    Read More

  • Animal Research and Testing, Is it Ethical?

    2169 Words  | 5 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • The Cons of Animal Testing

    1354 Words  | 3 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • Pros Of Animal Testing

    434 Words  | 1 Pages

    Imagine your sweet cat locked in a cage inside a laboratory with other various animals. Millions of animals every year are locked up in labs for testing. Animals are used to test medications, cosmetics, biology lessons, and for medical training. Thousands of mice, rats, primates, cats, dogs, and other animals are used for testing. Most of these animals will die in cruel testing experiments. Animal testing is tortures to the animals, an unreliable option for medication, and there are better safer options for testing.

    Read More

  • Should Animals be Used for Medical Research?

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    The deployment of animals for medical research has brought heated debates from both the proponents and opponents each holding to their views in a tight manner. Those who are in support of animal research argue that it has been constituting a vital element in the advancement of medical sciences throughout the world providing insights to various diseases, which have helped in the discovery and development of various medicines that have brought an improvement in the qualify of living of people. Such discoveries have gone so deep that but for them many would have died a premature death because no cure would have been found for the diseases that they were otherwise suffering. On the other hand, animal lovers and animal right extremists hold to the view that animal experimentation is not only necessary but also Cruel. Human kind is subjecting them to such cruelties because they are helpless and even assuming such experiments do bring in benefits, the inhuman treatment meted out to them is simply not worth such benefits. They would like measures, including enactment of legislations to put an end to using animals by the name of research. This paper takes the view there are merits in either of the arguments and takes the stand a balanced approach needs to be taken on the issue so that both the medical science does not suffer, and the animal lovers are pacified, even if not totally satisfied. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: The next section discusses both the sides by taking account the view of scholars and practitioners and the subsequent section concludes the paper by drawing vital points from the previous section to justify the stand taken in this paper....

    Read More

  • Animal Rights Argumentative Essay

    1441 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this essay I will outline and defend the argument for complete abolition of the use of animals in biomedical research. I will ultimately agree with Tom Regan’s claim that “the fundamental wrong is the system that allows us to view animals as our resources.” I will describe several important objections to Regan’s claim. However, I will show that none of these objections overcomes his central argument.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Animal Testing

    1280 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Should Animals Be Used for Scientific Research?

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is always a special relationship between humans and animals, and some people will consider and treat their home animals as a part of their family members. In the recent decade, the animal experimentation plays a very significant role for biomedical research. Those animal experimentation allows scientists to do medical research on animals to develop new drugs for saving human life and preventing human suffering from diseases, and it also helps to ensure the safety of the drugs. Since some animal’s biological systems have a remarkable similarity with humans, it is tough to find an effective replacement for animal research. Although most of animal researches bring humans benefit, some people argue that animal research is torturing animals and violating animal rights and it should be banned. In fact, most of the alternative cannot provide accurate and correct information for the scientists, so animals should be allow use in scientific research.

    Read More

More about The Pros And Cons Of Animal Research

Open Document