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Animal testing for science and the medical field
Animal experimentation in medical research
Animal welfare act regulatation about keeping animals in captivity
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“The notion that human life is sacred just because it is human life is medieval”, this was written by Peter Singer in his book Animal Liberation. Animals are all over, whether it is at home as companions, at the circus as entertainment, or in our closets as clothing. Citizens of the United States are aware that the medicines we are to take have to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but many of us have been ignorant to how exactly the majority of these medicines are approved and who are the testing dummies that are used to come up with these medication. Conducting medical research with animals has caused break out of legal, scientific, and ethical dilemmas concerning that topic. In this paper I will try to give an unbiased understanding of the research experiments animals have to undergo and the ethical issue that arise supported by Peter Singer. It has been recorded that physician-scientist such as Aristotle and Erasistratus has performed experiments on living animals. In 1937, a pharmaceutical company here in the United States, came up with a drug called Elixir Sulfanilamide. This drug consisted of a solvent that was highly poisonous which lead to the death of hundreds of people. It wasn’t until then that the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetic Act required testing of drugs on animals before they could be marketed to humans. In 1959, W.M.S. Russell and R.L. Burch introduced the three R’s for the use of humane treatment of animals. The first R is for the replacement of animals with non-living models, the second R is for the reduction in the use of animals, and the third R is for the refinement of animal use practices. The Animal Welfare Act signed in 1966, is the only federal law that regulates the treatment of a... ... middle of paper ... ...ood stream. Still the question on pain comes up, do animals really feel pain or is it just an assumption. Pain is known to be as a “mental event” that only we feel and the only way people know that we are feeling pain is because we tell them. Animals on the other hand have their own way of communicating that they would like to be helped; behavior signs of pain include writhing, facial frowns, moaning, appearance of fear, and yelping. Lord Brain, the neurologist, once said “I at least cannot doubt that the interests and activities of animals are correlated with awareness and feeling in the same way as my own, and which may be just as vivid.” This explains that animals and humans do have a correlation among each other when it comes to their surroundings and activities. Therefore animals would be aware when they are in a tense environment and nonetheless feel pain.
United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Library. Animal Welfare Act. 8 April 2014. 14 April 2014.
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.
Testing animals is used to develop medical treatments, determine the toxicity of medicinal drugs, check the safety of products intended for human use, and other biomedical, commercial, and healthcare roles. The earliest recordings of animal studies date back to Aristotle, who discovered the anatomical differences among animals by analyzing them (Introduction). Advocates of animal testing say that it has enabled the growth of numerous medical advancements, tests to see if new products are save for mankind, acquisition of new scientific knowledge, and because it is accurate (B). Opponents of animal testing say that it is cruel and inhumane to try out on animals, many animals die from the animal testing, it’s unethical, animals don’t have a say in it, the accuracy is in question because they are testing animals and not humans, and the toll of animal testing is high (B). Through the pros and cons of everything, it is bad to test animals because animals are very different from human beings and thus make poor test subjects and are unreliable, the cost and upkeep of it is expensive, and because there are alternatives to animal testi...
Animal testing is a largely debated and controversial issue. It was first introduced in the United States in the 1920s (Goldberg 85). Since then, there have been many advances in the field of medicine and science. These advances are due largely to the fact that animals are used in experiments and research. Animal testing has given doctors some of their most successful accomplishments. Also, they help researchers discover how to improve long known theories about the human mind and body. Over 40 Nobel Prizes have been given to researchers “whose achievements depended, at least in part, on using laboratory animals” (Trull 64). These animal experiments have helped humans live a better life. Animal testing benefits doctors...
What would the world be like if there was no vaccine for polio? If there was no discovery of insulin? Thanks to animal research we don’t have to live without vaccines or insulin. Animal research is a topic debated everyday around the world. Some argue it is cruel to put animals through experiments that animals have no voice in what is being done to them. Others argue that animal testing is good because it collects a lot of information and helps with surgical techniques. I believe that without animal testing we would never know what we know now. Animal testing for medical research is necessary if there are no other alternatives because it allows for advances in medicine, provides treatments for people with diseases, it eliminates human suffering, and it also has helped treat diseases in animals. (Animal Research 2013)
Law and Animal Experimentation: A Critical Primer,” the author, Stephen Latham, begins his writing with expressing his views and thoughts on the reform needed to benefit animals while being experimented on. Latham describes the current system as being majorly flawed and having many gaps that could be completely modified to improve the current system in reference to the United States animal testing laws, standards, and regulations. Latham argues that “Even proponents of medical research on animals can see obvious ways in which the regulatory structure could be changed to benefit animals” (S35). Furthermore, the author achieves the purpose of stating his views while justifying himself in the attempt of achieving rational reform extremely well. Latham accomplished his purpose thoroughly because he provides detailed evidence and description of that evidence while explaining and supporting his thoughts of reform relating to the subject of animal
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.
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...
Pierce, Jessica. "Emotional Pain in Animals: An Invisible World of Hurt." Emotional Pain in Animals: An Invisible World of Hurt. Sussex Publisher, 24 Apr. 2012. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.
The history of animal experimentation and tests, and the argument surrounding it, has an expansive and somewhat extensive history. Some of the first medical research that was conducted on living animals was done by Aelius Galenus, better known as Galen, in the second century C.E. There have been examples of animal testing in earlier dates, but Galen devoted his life to understanding science and medicine, so he is attributed to being the father of vivisection. In the twelfth century, an Arabic physician named Avenzoar introduced animal testing dissections as a means to better understand surgery before preforming the operation on a human patient. Edmund O’Meara made one of the first opposing ar...
Peter Singer, an author and philosophy professor, “argues that because animals have nervous systems and can suffer just as much as humans can, it is wrong for humans to use animals for research, food, or clothing” (Singer 17). Do animals have any rights? Is animal experimentation ethical? These are questions many struggle with day in and day out in the ongoing battle surrounding the controversial topic of animal research and testing, known as vivisection. Throughout centuries, medical research has been conducted on animals.
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...
Johnson. It is the only Federal Law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research and exhibition. This act requires all animal dealers to be registered and licensed, and if they break any of the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act, they will be fined $1,000. The act was amended eight times (1970, 1976, 1985, 1990, 2002, 2007, 2008, and 2013). All these different times that it was amended, more and more animals were brought justice and helped from being mistreated and poorly taken care of. August 31, 2015, the announcement of the Federal tracking of cruelty crimes changes, have brought forth new statistics of animal abuse. 64.5% (1,212) of the crimes were dog related, 18% (337) were cats, and 25% (470) were other animals. Just about one million animals are abused or killed yearly in the U.S., and if caught are fined under the Animal Welfare Act of 1966. The Animal Welfare Act has granted lab research and use of animals, it regulates care and the use of animals in research, but excludes cold-blooded animals, and limited protection on other animals such as mice, rats, and birds bred for research. Conservative estimates indicate that over 25 million animals are used annually for animal research. The U.S.D.A is in charge of enforcing the AWA (Animal Welfare Act). The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Animal Care program administers
Every year, millions of animals experience painful, suffering and death due to results of scientific research as the effects of drugs, medical procedures, food additives, cosmetics and other chemical products. Basically, animal experimentation has played a dominant role in leading with new findings and human advantages. Animal research has had a main function in many scientific and medical advances in the past decade and is helping in the understanding of several diseases. While most people believe than animal testing is necessary, others are worried about the excessive suffering of this innocent’s creatures. The balance between the rights of animals and their use in medical research is a delicate issue with huge societal assumptions. Nowadays people are trying to understand and take in consideration these social implications based in animals rights. Even though, many people tend to disregard animals that have suffered permanent damage during experimentation time. Many people try to misunderstand the nature of life that animals just have, and are unable to consider the actual laboratory procedures and techniques that these creatures tend to be submitted. Animal experimentation must be excluded because it is an inhumane way of treat animals, it is unethical, and exist safer ways to test products without painful test.
Animals are used in research to develop new medicines and for scientists to test the safety of the medicines. This animal testing is called vivisection. Research is being carried out at universities, medical schools and even in primary and elementary schools as well as in commercial facilities which provide animal experiments to industry. (UK Parliament) In addition, animals are also used in cosmetic testing, toxicology tests, “defense research” and “xenotransplantation”. All around the world, a huge amount of animals are sentenced to life in a laboratory cage and they are obliged to feel loneliness and pain. In addition scientists causing pain, most drugs that pas successfully in animals fail in humans. It is qualified as a bad science. Above all, animals have rights not to be harmed even though the Animal Welfare Act does not provide them even with minimal protection. The law does not find it necessary to use current alternatives to animals, even if they are obtainable. Animal testing should be banned due to animal rights, ethical issues, alternative ways and the unreliability of test results in humans.