A subject which always raises an argument of strong feelings from both sides is animal testing. I believe that although it may have been necessary in the past, other methods are now available to test drugs and in the future scientists could develop more methods to stop animals being used altogether.
The history of animal testing goes way back to the writings of the Greeks in the fourth and third centuries BCE when two men called Aristotle and Erasistratus performed experiments on live animals for anatomical research. Avenzoar, an Arabic physician in 12th century introduced animal testing as a method of testing surgical procedures before performing them on human patients.
The lives of ten million human diabetics have been saved because of our experiments carried out on dogs with insulin. Dogs also benefited from this too, as insulin can also be used on them. In fact, a third of drugs used by vets are the same as those used by doctors. I personally believe that if there are no other alternatives to animal testing, then and only then, is it acceptable, and only if suffering is minimised in all experiments.
The law in the UK requires that any new drug must be tested on two different species of living mammal. The way experiments by scientists have been controlled by legislation since 1822. For example, the Animals Act of 1986 says that no animal experiment can be carried out if there is an approved alternative. Before testing on an animal the testers need three Home licenses- one for the institution, one for the scientist and one for the project. They must show that the experiment will provide great benefits and also prove there is no alternative to this experiment. Also, random inspections take place and on-site vets are necessary. ...
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...ent is committed to finding other research methods but for the foreseeable future the use of ferrets, fish, mice and monkeys seem like they shall still be necessary for some procedures.
On March 11, 2013, Cruelty Free International finally won their 20 year long battle by making a complete ban on marketing of animal-tested cosmetics in all 28 nations in the European Union. Now, not only can no animal testing for cosmetics take place but cosmetics products that have been tested on animals cannot be sold in the European Union.
In conclusion, I agree that animal experiments have brought a lot of good in the past. However we now have the technology and expertise to develop other methods of testing surgical procedures and drugs so that the use of animals can be completely over. It is incumbent on the human race to protect and take care of all species on the planet.
Animal testing has gone back as far as three hundred B.C.E with the Greek physician and philosopher, Aristotle (*). Then there was Galen, a Greek physician, who studied animals in Rome and learned more about medicine, made advancements in understanding anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. To modern society, Galen is referred to as being the father of vivisection. In the twelfth century in Spain, Ibn Zuhr, an Arab physician who made use of animal experimentation that led to testing the effectiveness of surgical procedures, first on animals, and then applying the information to human patients. Though most of his testings were on goats, much of his research went into postmortem autopsies and dissections. (Hajar) (Naik)
Over the past couple of years many companies of these cosmetic products released that they are against animal testing including LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, The Body Shop, and many others. There are still companies that still do test with animals; over 250 on PETA’s website. A large percent of these are well-known companies such as Johnson & Johnson, Estee Lauder, Procter & Gamble, L’Oreal, and others that may surprise the consumer. The majority of these companies are producing the same products yet using different animal testing results. This causes the number of test subjects to be substantially larger than what is needed. The number of tests being conducted could be reduced if these companies either become anti animal testing or share results with other companies. This idea might seem like a long-shot since sharing information with their competitors seems ridiculous. If you take a step back from looking at each individual company, you’ll see that they are all conducting similar tests with similar products. Sharing results of these tests with other companies potentially selling similar products, with the same ingredients, will result in a large drop in animal testing (Search for Cruelty-Free
Animals should not be used as test subjects for any research. The innocent and helpless animals’ rights are being violated when they are involved during animal experimentation. These unfortunate animals do not have a choice whether or not they want to be involved in testing. They are not intended for people to experiment on for their own selfish reasons. It is not right to take advantage of the animals because they are helpless and cannot protect themselves. Animals and humans have similarities; they both behave, feel, think, and experience pain. Therefore, animals should be treated with the same respect as humans. The pain and suffering an animal is forced to endure is not worth any new product. It is cruel and inhumane to take advantage of an innocent animal. These tests that use animals to ensure the safety of products are extremely common without people even knowing about it. It is not fair to these animals to abuse their beauty. They are helpless and cannot control what is happening to them. Animal experimentation should be stopped because it violates the rights of animals and harms or even kills the animals.
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.
All research and experiments must be approved before being able to conduct the tests and before the experiments can be started. The UK has some of the highest standards of laboratory welfare in the world. There is legal requirements that limit the number of animals that can be used for testing. Animal research can only be done in the UK where there is no suitable non- animal alternative. “Animal rese...
Research on living animals has been practiced since at least 500 BC. Over 25 million animals are tested in labs every year. They are used for medical and scientific research. The animals used in research often undergo cruel experimentations and suffer through the pain. During medical testing, less than 2% of human illnesses are seen in animals, therefor medical testing on animals is cruel and pointless. Medical testing on animals should be illegal because products that pass animal tests end up harming or killing humans about 61% of the time.
Each year in the United States close to 26 million animals including, mice, rabbits, cats, dogs, and most commonly chimpanzees are tested both for scientific research and conventional research. Animals are tested in treatments to determine how a drug or treatment will affect a human being, and several more health care purposes. This is nothing new though, animal testing has been practiced since 500 BC. Animal testing is both morally and ethically wrong and needs to be put to a stop.
Animal testing has been done since at least 500 BC; even Aristotle experimented on animals for scientific reasoning. Around 200 AD, dissecting animals in public was actually used as a form of entertainment, people would actually go and watch someone perform a vivisection on an animal. Vivisection is when an organism is dissected while it is still alive (“Animal Testing”). The public did not start objecting animal testing until the 19th century, which was around the time when more people started to adopt domestic pets. In 1875, the first group to protect animals from testing was formed, called the Society for the Protection of Animals Liable to Vivisection (“Animal Testing”).
It comes down to ethics whether you think animal testing is right or not. And in which cases out of drug tests, vaccines, consumer products, biomedical research, and education. Many people protest animal testing because of the inhumane ways animals are and were treated; and the mindset of the operators had of why it is just.
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).
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
In a nutshell, it can be said that animal testing an extremely cruel was of testing drugs to improve the quality of human lives As a result, animal testing carries a lot of damaging impacts with it. We need to see an end to the suffering of innocent animals in the name of science! A more humane approach is most definitely
Animal testing has contributed to many life-saving cures and treatments. As a matter of fact, the California Biomedical Research Associations states that all of the medical breakthroughs in the past 100 years came from animal research. Approximately 26 million animals are used every year in the United States for medical purposes. Animals are used to develop medical treatments, check the safety of products meant for human use, and other biomedical, commercial, and health care uses. Without animal testing, scientists wouldn’t be as far as they are in medicine today.
Penicillin, a vital antibiotic for infection is toxic to ginea pigs. Animal testing isn’t reliable option for human medication or products. Animals have different genetic make up than humans. Mike Leavitt, The Health and Human Service Secretary, states “ Nine out of ten experimental drug fail in clinical studies because we cannot accurately predict how they will behave in people based on laboratory and animal studies.” (Animal Research is Unethical and Scientifically Unnecessary). Humans have obvious differenced than animals like physiology and anatomy. These differences are the reason drug testing on animals isn’t equal when medication or product is used in a human trial. Pfizer reported in 2004 that they “wasted more than $2 billion over the past decade on drugs that “failed in advanced human testing or, in a few instances, were forced off the market, because of liver toxicity problems” (Animal Research is Unethical and Scientifically Unnecessary). Some drugs have caused serious and unexpected health problems even after they were tested on animals. Animal
The history of animal testing goes as far as the 4th and 3rd centuries BCE, with Aristotle and Erasistratus from Ancient Greek which was mostly based of writings. Now around the 17th Century, William Harvey experimented with animals in the hope of understanding and demonstrating blood circulation. Three main types of animal experimentation are fundamental research, Genetically modifying animals and testing for regulations. Fundamental research is mostly based of curiosity. It is mostly designed to answer scientific questions that scientist believe will be beneficial medically in the future and no new medicines are being testing for humans or animals. 46% accounts for the total experiments in Europe, but the chances of finding something new is very slim, 5%. Genetically modifying animals is another type of animal experimentation which is when animals are