Animal Cruelty: The Negative Effects Of Testing On Animals

This is an annotated bibliography of animal testing and if it’s morally justified. There are many opinions on the results and the entire process that it takes to test a cosmetic product or a medicine on an animal. There are many alternatives and benefits to animal testing but is it really justified? Or are animals in potential danger.

This is an annotated bibliography of animal testing and research to see if it’s morally justified. There are many opinions on the results and the entire process that it takes to test or experiment a cosmetic product or a medicine on an animal. There are many alternatives and benefits to animal testing but is it really justified? Or could animals be in potential danger.

Animal testing is a cruel way to try and develop new products. There are several other and much safer options that will get better results and potentially save up to two million animals every single year. The Animal Welfare Act is in place but only minimally protects certain animals and leaves many others, up to 95%, vulnerable to atrocious fates. The animals not protected by this act (mostly small or considered house pets) are most widely used and not related closely to humans. There are several alternative methods but they are being neglected since they are new and not being enforced because of it. A few countries and states have banned certain aspect of animal testing but others are encouraging this cruelty.

Approximately 26 million animals are used every year in the United States alone for research and commercial testing (“Background of the Issue” 1). For years, legislators have debated the pros and cons of animal testing, and laws were passed to attempt to fix the inhumane treatment of the cute, innocent testing subjects, the animals. Although the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) was revised numerous times, “the species most commonly used in experiments (mice, rats, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians) comprise 99% of all animals in laboratories” and are the animals that are specifically exempted from protection under the act (“Experiments on Animals” 2). A simple fix to animal cruelty during testing is to use alternative methods since human and animal bodies already vary greatly. For years, animal testing was the best option because there was no alternative to testing on a living, whole-body system; however, in the age of technology, there is no reason for millions of animals to be killed due to the severity of the testing. Therefore, animal testing should be banned because alternative methods provide more accurate results since human bodies are very different than animal bodies; furthermore, animal advocacy organizations should promote cruelty-free products more so customers know what to purchase and use.

To support or not support animal testing practices has been a long debated topic. Animals have been used in medical and cosmetic tests since the 1900s leading to numerous medical treatment breakthroughs and ensuring the safety of everyday products we use. Recently animal advocate groups have called for the abolishment of animal testing, causing a divide on whether or not to continue animal testing. In order to keep innovating new solutions for diseases that plague our communities and loved ones, allowing the use of animal testing to end preventable tragedies must occur.

Many of us are unaware of the sheer number of animals that undergo constant suffering in the name of human vanity. Animal testing was originally introduced in the early 20th century and is still prominent today. It is morally unacceptable to experiment on animals for human purposes. The procedures used in animal testing are cruel and inhumane, nor are they the most reliable source of data; resulting in many mishaps. Moreover, with the perpetual advancements in technology, there are several alternative methods making animal testing unnecessary. If testing cosmetics and drugs on humans is unacceptable, what makes it acceptable to test on animals?

With every new emerging disease and make up trend, hundreds and thousands of drugs are tested and evaluated before they are sold and used to ensure their safety in humans. Animal testing, also referred to as animal experimentation and animal research involves experimentation on animals such as mice, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs and hamsters in labs to investigate the safety and efficiency of a variety of products ranging from medication to cosmetics and even understanding the physiology of the human body. However, with masses of animals killed each year for this purpose; this essay will aim to evaluate the necessity of animal testing as well the opposition to why animal testing should not be a part of our human nature.

Animal testing is a secret most companies don’t like to share. It is a global problem that needs to be put to an end. The use of animal testing is used in medicine, cosmetics and for educational purposes and it is immoral and unnecessary when we have advanced technologies that can replace these harmful methods.

” Today, more animals are being used in experiments than ever before: around 100 million in the United States alone” (3). Animal testing is now an international issue, and it is becoming a major story. Currently, animals are often used in medical testing, make-up testing, and other consumer product testing. Animals used in such product testing are often abused and suffer from serious side-effects. Animal testing can be painful for the animals, testing results are usually not even useable for humans, and there are other testing methods available. Consequently, animals should not be used for any make-up products or medical testing.

Millions of animals are being unneedlessly tested on for cosmetics, even though there are plenty of alternatives available and most of the results are unreliable or not applicable to humans. Although the fight against animal testing has made huge progress recently, America has yet to stop this cruel practice and chooses to torture animals while other countries are making a stop to the testing (“Animal Testing 101”).

Animal testing has long played a part in the science of testing, and it still plays a very important role in the medical world. Testing on animals in order to create a cure for AIDS is one thing, but testing on animals for human vanity is another. Animal testing is used to test the safety of a product. It has kept some very unsafe substances out of the cosmetic world. However, in this day in age, animal testing is not the only way to test the safety of a product. Animal testing in cosmetics has decreased over the years. However, it is still used by many companies in America. Animal testing is not only cruel, but it is also unnecessary in today’s advanced scientific world.

Using animals in research and to test the safety of products has been a topic of heated debate for decades. According to data collected by F. Barbara Orlans for her book, In the Name of Science: Issues in Responsible Animal Experimentation, sixty percent of all animals used in testing are used in biomedical research and product-safety testing (62). People have different feelings for animals; many look upon animals as companions while others view animals as a means for advancing medical techniques or furthering experimental research. However individuals perceive animals, the fact remains that animals are being exploited by research facilities and cosmetics

Europe, the world’s largest cosmetic market, Israel, and India have already banned animal testing for cosmetics, and the sale or import of newly animal-tested beauty products. Major companies have turned their backs completely on animal testing and no longer use ingredients that were tested on animals – and a number of animal tests have been completely replaced with superior, cheaper and more effective non-animal methods. Proponents of animal testing say that it has enabled the development of many life-saving treatments for both humans and animals, that there is no alternative method for researching a complete living organism, and that strict regulations prevent the mistreatment of animals in laboratories. Opponents of animal testing say that it is cruel and inhumane to experiment on animals, that the laws only protect the least number of animals, and that animals are so different from human beings that research on animals often yields irrelevant results.

From the time of the Ancient Greeks up until present day, the words animal experimentation sparks an abundance of opposing opinions. While public support of animal testing gradually declined as the public became more educated towards what was entailed, the use of animals in laboratories around the world exploded. This created an increase in concern over animal welfare, and generated a new level of controversy over the use of animals for medical and cosmetic research. Animal testing controversy has become as vocal as ever, as the public weighs the pros and cons of crossing the line of what is moral, and what is done in the name of science. Animal testing in North America is damaging the reliability of medical research and testing moral codes boundaries as it creates more problems than it solves. Animal testing should become a prohibited practice because of the cruel and inhumane treatment of the animals, the variety of alternative methods than can be used in place and animal testing being a flawed, unreliable and expensive scientific method.

“Scientific research is the systematic investigation of scientific theories and hypotheses” (Cheprasov). This research includes experimentations on Animals and many other subjects such as humans. Animals being tested has been going on for many of years and billions of animals have been through many tests. These tests performed have helped humans excel in many different fields, protected humans from having to go through many of the more dangerous experiments and what may come from the objects being tested, and has enhanced learning experiences. The use of Animals in scientific research is justified as long as there are restrictions upon the tests being done.