Animal Research : The Benefits Of Animal Testing

Approximately 225 million animals are used for testing every year. Billions have been killed in the process. ("Questions and Answers About Biomedical Research.”) How can this be allowed? Isn’t it cruel to use animals to test products for humans? Many animal rights activists say, “yes” to this question. However, scientists argue it is necessary and animal research can help save human lives. There are probable arguments for both sides. But the dangers of using animals to test products for human use weighs an even greater risk than not using the animals. Alternatives are much more ethical.

Over the past few decades, animals have been enduring unimaginable pain and fear due to being used to test the everyday products we use. And as unfortunate as it sounds, animals simply do not have the choice in these cruel experiments scientist put them through. 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” (Orlans There will always be different points of views on this troubling topic, some may be against it because they see animals as their companions or some may support it because they only see animals as objects to move forward with science and experimental

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.

Animal testing has its benefits towards human health. Improvement in health of the human race involves animal testing. Cancer, asthma, polio, TB, meningitis, smallpox, and the human papilloma virus (HPV) all have treatments that have come from animal testing. As a result of animal testing many people would be dying or suffering from the disease. Although, many people believe animals should not be used for animal testing.

Millions of helpless animals every year like rats, rabbits, dogs, monkeys and several more species are cruelly tested on, in horrible conditions. Animals should be able to roam free and live a healthy life looking after their young, but all their life consists of is sitting in filth and terrible pain waiting in fear of what brutal test will be done to them next. Anything that is tested on any animal that brings agonising pain to them is ethically and morally wrong, and should to be put to a complete stop immediately. Experiments are performed on animals to test a variety of things like new medicines that are being developed and to test how safe different products are. Things ranging from cosmetics, cleaning products, food additives, pharmaceuticals and chemicals are forcefully tested on animals.

Animal testing can go from good thing to a terrible thing in a matter of seconds. Animal testing dates to ancient Greece in 300 B.C. Greek philosophers and scientists practiced on animals to find scientific solutions and medical cures. The benefits of animal testing include pacemakers for heart disease, vaccines, and treating conditions such as a brain injury. However, the downside of animal testing is that it is cruel to the animals, can have misleading results, and ninety-five percent of animals are not protected by the Animal Welfare Act. Also, breakthrough results have been made without animals and alternative animal testing is cheaper than using animals for experimentation.

The medication you are taking was tested on animals. It might save your life and it may save even the animals’ life. Are you for or against animal testing? What is animal testing? Animal testing is a phrase that most people have heard but are perhaps still unsure of exactly what is involved. Whether it is called animal testing, animal experimentation or animal research, it refers to the experimentation carried out on animals. It is used to assess the safety and effectiveness of medicine, and understanding how the human body works. The use of animals in scientific research continues to play a vital part developing improvements in healthcare and the environment. The opportunities presented by scientific advances are used to replace or reduce animal use, and to refine procedures to minimise suffering. Animal testing is a controversial subject. Because it is so controversial, the biases that exist on either side can skew the accurate definition. Those who support animal testing may define it as experimentation that uses animals to benefit humans, where it saves lives and provides vital medical treatments. Animal research has enabled to find treatments for cancer, antibiotics for infections, vaccines to prevent some of the most deadly and debilitating viruses and surgery for injuries, illnesses and deformities.

Animal testing has contributed to many life-saving cures and treatments for humans. In the last century, nearly all the medical breakthroughs, for finding cures and treatment for diseases, were directly from animal testing. Animal testing first began in 129 A D with a Greek doctor named Galen. Galen’s main focus for conducting animal testing was to advance the understanding of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Scientists have been doing animal testing for various reasons, from finding cures to diseases to testing makeup to see if the makeup is safe for human use. Animal testing has been good for humans, but not much for the animals being tested on. While many people do not agree with animal testing because of the high risks

Animals that are put forward to medical experimentation contribute to cures and treatments that have saved many lives. The California Biomedical Research Association states that “nearly every medical breakthrough in the last 100 years has resulted directly from research using animals.” (California Biomedical Research Association). Animals that are used for these tests have contributed incredible discoveries on unimaginable areas starting on Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Heart Disease/Stroke, Diabetes, Birth Defects, and Spinal Cord Injuries. Animal testing has made medical discoveries to go from antibiotics to blood transfusions, from

Animal research, also known as in vivo testing, is the use of animals for experiments. Experimentation on animals dates back to as early as 500 BC, making this form of medical education and research one of the most fundamental known to humans. Almost 400 years ago, a doctor named William Harvey used animals to discover how blood circulated in the body. This discovery is considered the spark of the scientific revolution in which many lives were saved all thanks to the help of animal testing. The modern era of animal research started about 150 years ago with the rise of physiology as a science. Today, fruit flies and mice are the most common test subjects used for animal testing. About 50 to 100 million vertebrate and invertebrate animals are used around the world every year. The source of the animals varies depending on the species of the animal and the country where the experimentation is taking place. Most animals used for experiments are bred for this purpose. Animals are used for experiments inside universities, medical schools, farms, large companies and other places that provide animal-testing services. It has been proven that almost every medical discovery in the 20th century and even up to this century used animals in some way. Many scientists reaffirm that even complex computers cannot model connections between molecules, cells, tissues, organs, organisms and the environment.

First and foremost, testing on animals has led to advancements in numerous areas of medical treatment that has saved thousands of people since the testings began. How? Well, animals have a very similar body structure to humans, which makes them prime examples for testing medications. Chimpanzees have 99% of the same DNA as humans do, and even mice are 98% genetically similar to the human race. Animals and humans both share the same complex, orderly body systems, and for this reason, they are readily used to study animal tissues and the way they react to certain procedures. The tissues can then be compared to the way human tissues would react without having to actually use these human tissues. ”It is a legal requirement to carry out animal testing to ensure they are safe and effective," said Dr. Paul Drayson when talking about the advantages of animal testing and making sure that medical procedures and medications are safe for humans.

Over one million animals are burned, immobilized, poisoned, and tortured in US labs every year (DoSomething.org). Animal testing is considered a very controversial topic that evolves to protesting rather large companies, and also leads to boycotting a specific brand that is known to test on animals. Animals should not be used for testing products because it is cruel to the animals, there are now new ways to test products, and animals are very different from humans so they are not accurate results.

For decades, the question of ethics in using humans and animals for research has been a constant battle in the fields of science, medicine, and even cosmetics. According to the Animal Welfare Association, approximately 19,500,000 animals - including mice, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, and frogs - are killed yearly on average due to research. Although more than 50% of adults in the United States are opposed to animal testing, many popular companies like Maybelline, Vaseline, Dove, and Windex choose to remain in the shadow of animal cruelty and use animals as expendable lab equipment.

Animal testing is often shunned, although it helps us cure, treat, and control certain diseases. Most people don't acknowledge that animal testing is here to help us with medical research. Animal testing has helped researchers understand different diseases such as, typhus, tuberculosis, maintaining diabetes, rabies, and many more. The fact we are able to live longlasting, happy, healthy lives is incredible. Sacrificing other animals for our own benefit doesn’t sound good but look how far we’ve gotten. Researchers have cured and found ways of helping people with conditions and diseases, it’s amazing.

The creation of a new product, should not cause animals to suffer and die. Because humans want a new lip color or a new type of eyeliner, does not mean that numerous animals should be immensely tortured and at times to death. Many argue that in order to ensure the safety of a product, animal testing is necessary. However, in today’s scientific world, this is not true. Many people argue that animal testing is cheaper, but according to Consumers ' Research Magazine writer Beatrice Hunter, it costs 500,000 dollars per product to test something using animals, as opposed to alternatives, which cost on average 50 dollars per product.