Animal Testing And Its Morality

Some might ask what cosmetic animal testing truly entails. Companies use small animals such as mice, rabbits, and guinea pigs to test the safety and hypoallergenic properties of their products before releasing them to the public. Numerous tests are run for a singular product, such as the Draize test, the Acute Toxicity test, and the Skin Irritation test. The notorious Draize test shows the “irritation or damage caused by chemicals by putting them into the eyes of rabbits” (Abbott 144; Mcnamee et al.). After the substance is applied onto or into the eyes, they wait and see if there is any sign of eye irritation, corrosion, or permanent blindness. The Acute Toxicity

Every single year one hundred million animals or more are tested on to “advance” pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and other products but the vast majority, up to 92%, of the time they fail on humans in clinical trials. These animals are not only tested on but are usually given lethal doses, crippled, abused, and eventually killed. The Animal Welfare Act is in effect but the animals protected by it can still be tested on because a valid alternative is not required by law. One of the most well-known tests is the Draize irritation test where an animal, most often a rabbit or rodent of some sort, is held down with their eyes fixed open while a new product is dripped into

Every year about 241,000 rabbits are tortured in United States laboratories to test for the effects that household products, such as cosmetics, dishwashing liquid, and drain cleaner will have on their eyes ("Rabbits in Laboratories | PETA.org." 1). Scientists will drip chemicals into the eyes of the animal to see how much irritation it will cause, a process known as the Draize eye irritancy test ("Rabbits in Laboratories | PETA.org." 1). The test is certainly not pain free; it often causes distress, such as redness, swelling, and sometimes blindness. After the rabbits are finished being toyed with, they are killed ("Rabbits in Laboratories | PETA.org." 1). The Draize eye irritancy test is just one of the thousands of examples of profuse

Animals are given high doses of these chemicals such as lab rats by force feeding them. They can experience diarrhea, severe abdominal pain, seizures, paralysis, and bleeding from the mouth, nose, and genitals before they die (peta.org:product testing). Rabbits are used mostly for eye and skin irritation research. They have products leaked into their eyes and put onto their skin. Scientists then

It is no secret that millions of animals a year are used for medical experimentation. One study “found the number of animals tested rose from 1,566,994 in 1997 to 2,705,772 in 2012” (Casey). It is my belief that researchers use virtue theory to defend their experimentations. While animal activists approach experimentation through the ethics of care. I am against animal experimentation, but I will also provide insight into why people believe it is ethically just.

Every day, animals suffer for our own benefit. There are policies in place, that require inspection and registration of testing facilities, compliance with specified husbandry standards, and efforts to minimize animal pain, among other provisions. However, each day, an animal dies, suffers pain, or is held captive, and that poses an issue of justification. (Orlans, F. Barbara) Furthermore, research has shown that in various animal testing facilities, not even the minimal standards set by the AWA are being met. Under federal law, it is not illegal to burn, starve, shock, poison, isolate, brain damage, or force an animal to be addicted to drugs while undergoing animal testing.

Throughout history, animal testing has always been a controversial and sensitive topic. It can easily receive much hate as well as praise which could be accounted for by many different factors. Animal testing is such a broad idea that can be misconceived in multiple ways such as unethical animal breeding, mutations, or cruel product testing. Yet, that is not the case at all since animal testing could also have a positive and beneficial outcome to which helps people in society. While there are many controversial thoughts on the many different factors that apply to animal testing, I find it to be that many of the pros outweighs the costs that comes animal testing such as the ethical or moral reason. Although when including the ethical or

“Lots of people talk to animals…Not very many listen, though…That’s the problem”(Ben Hoffman). The controversy of animal testing is phenomenal; it always has been. I remember dissecting animals throughout my years of school in the "name of science". It was only until recently that I started questioning the government 's methods to teach us. We dissected a dog shark in my oceanography class last year. There had to been at least 80 dead sharks in about four different buckets; that was when it crossed the line. I understood a lamb eye or something, but breeding sharks in captivity just so they can be killed? Animal testing is wrong in every way to me.

Gerhard Zbinden, a toxicologist described that “the testing of just one substance can involve using up to 800 animals.” The pain and suffering that the large amount of these animals go through is not worth the possible benefits to humans. When animals are used for product toxicity testing or laboratory research, they are forced to undergo painful and deadly experiments. The most common product safety tests are the Draize test and the LD50 test. Rats and mice are usually used for this experiment. Since both trials are the most painful and deadly of all, they are often avoided but still performed. During an LD50 test, tubes are attached to the esophagus of the stomach and force fed chemical products, causing the animals to then suffer with discomfort and pain throughout different parts of the body. The Draize test determines the consequences of getting a chemical into a human’s eyes. In order to determine the eye irritancy of a product, scientists place it into a rabbit’s eyes and look out for eye damage. Specifically, swelling, redness, bleeding, and blindness. After performing the Draize test, rabbits’ either often bleed or become blind. They experience these symptoms for up to 14 days until they are evaluated for further internal damage. When performing the Draize and LD50 test, animals are expected to fail. Though, some take days and even weeks to die. During their weeks of slowly dying, the animals’ experience vomiting, diarrhea, and internal bleeding. Because so many animals are forced to go through these intensely painful test runs, animals experimentation ought to end to prevent wate of animals

Imagine a life locked away in a cage with no form of control on your existence. It’s cold, dark, and you are scared. You don’t have a choice of what you eat, where you live, or how you are treated. You are unsure if it is day or night or what will happen to you next. You are locked away in a prison cell and you committed no crime. This is the life of a laboratory animal. Animal testing is the use of animals for scientific research purposes and experiments. It can be used for the findings of cures and medicines to testing new drugs, to understanding the behavioral psychology of the animals themselves. “Around fifty to one hundred million vertebrate animals, ranging from fish to primates, are used in experiments each year” (Lloyd). There are

Animals for animal testing are given life for a short time just to have it ripped out by a scientist in a lab coat. If it was a human child that was treated in the same way nobody would stand for it, why? Because animal testing is inhumane, cruel, and morally wrong. Animal testing started with “William Harvey 400 years ago to learn how blood circulated in the body” (FAQ). In a time before medical and technological advancements it was necessary to use animals to develop cures for horrible diseases such as smallpox and polio (Cook). However, in today’s society with a cure or vaccine for over 250 known diseases, Not to mention the 10 infectious diseases that have been 90% eradicated from the Western world (Lloyd). Animal testing is becoming obsolete with the modern advancements in today’s growing world.

For my paper I chose the topic of animal testing because I have always been very passionate for animals and against animal abuse. I have never believed in animal testing and that there were always other alternatives. I wanted to look further into and educate myself about what is being done about this and why it is an ethical issue. I have come up with an axiom to summarize this topic. Testing animals in research revolves around the relative or moral value of humans and animals, and many different viewpoints helped to contribute to the development of ethical principles of animal treatment.

Oftentimes these chemicals are left there for days and these rabbits suffer with no relief. For skin irritancy tests the animals are detained and chemicals, like perfume/cologne, are placed on a patch of shaved skin (“Blinded”). These tests may sound harmless, but in reality they cause great damage to the participants. Common side effects of such experiments include but are not limited to, redness, bleeding, ulcers, burning and blindness. These animals are in constant pain to test products not intended for their use.

The controversy behind animals as research subjects is mainly one of morals and the ethical treatment of said animals. Many people believe we should use them in this way, so we aren 't actually harming people in the pursuit for better things for humans. Though animal testing was a viable resource for many years, it has proven to be extremely controversial and unethical, therefor the use of animals as research subjects should be outlawed.

The skin is then monitored for irritation. This test is also inconclusive in the skin makeup of an animal differs greatly from that of a human. The amount of absorption between the two different skin types will have an influence on how the chemical will react once it comes in contact with human skin tissue.