For thousands of years animals have been used as research subjects, but with the advancement of science and society, animal experimentation has morphed into a controversial bioethics topic. Animal experimentation is the use of animals in scientific research. This experimentation ranges from testing pharmaceuticals on rats to measuring the elasticity of tendons in rabbits to implanting mechanical devices in calves. And while the FDA has dozens of guidelines to keep animal testing as ethical as possible, a strong opposition to animal research (particularly mammalian research) still exists.
A PBS special that discusses the history and innovation of artificial hearts, entitled “Electric Heart,” demonstrates the use of animal research in biomechanics.
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
“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.
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.
Cohen argues that humans may morally use animals for biomedical research, the study of biological processes and disease, because animals lack rights. He defines rights as moral claims that one human can hold against another, which are bound in both law as well as in comprehension of right and wrong. As animals lack self-conscious placement in a higher ethical order with the ability to weigh needs of self against the needs of others, they therefore lack the ability to have rights. (Cohen 1986: p. 215) To support the morality of animal research, I will show how it has led to many successful treatments of disease in humans, due to the common physiology that we share with other animals. Furthermore, I will argue that the pain caused on research
Animals suffer just as people do. In 2009 animal experimentation was the cause of over 1.13 million animals, excluding small rodents, suffering in U.S. Laboratories (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service). Animal experimentation is unethical, unnecessary and expensive; alternative methods of testing should be utilized.
Animal experimentation is a brutal way to see if products are going to be able to be used on humans. When scientists test products on animals, it causes the helpless them to be in excessive amounts of pain. The animals experience murderous tests like drilling into their skulls, and burning their skin, and eyes. Even though animal experimentation helps to find new diseases and medicines that are safe for humans, scientists should not use animals to experiment on because it doesn't always work ,and the tests are causing unnecessary harm to living animals.
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, is the use of animals in research and development projects, usually for the purposes of determining the safety of substances such as food, cosmetics, and drugs. Research animals undergo procedures that can cause physical and psychological distress. Mostly, the animals are euthanized, or killed, after the experiments. However, many organizations such as PETA and the Animal Justice Project have brought up, and are fighting against the dangerous outcomes of animals as they undergo testing. As a result, the topic of animal testing has become a divided and controversial topic among individuals, questioning whether it is ethical and unnecessary or humane and necessary to the science development.
Animal Testing also known as Animal Experimentation is the use of non-human animals as test subjects in a variety of experiments aimed to acquire more knowledge about human diseases. Even thought rats seem very distant from us humans they share a lot of similar genetic and psychological features that can help us propel into higher level of understanding and save human lives.
Animal testing dates back all the way to Greek physician scientists like Aristotle and Erasistratus. Greek scientist conducted experiments to understand the anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology just like our scientists do today. The moral ethics of animal testing has always been questioned, but many cures and treatments have been found due to animal testing discoveries. Animal testing is necessary for humankind 's overall well being, as well as today 's society 's advancement to further the knowledge of the medical field.
Animal testing has been a controversial topic for discussion for centuries. Major conflicting concerns that include, but are not limited to the morals and values of society today, are in my opinion where these issues stem from. For instance, some people seem to believe that by using animals for testing and experimentation is unethical and violating animals rights. Nonetheless, a cosmetic company using rabbits to test the irritancy levels of it’s products eyes for the purposes of making nonirritating cosmetics for women who will use such products in my opinion, is necessary for human safety and usage. I understand that the testing process may be painful to the rabbits, and understand why some may believe this is an act of animal abuse or
Adversaries to individuals against animal tests, such as the Draize test and LD50, focus their attention on the component of animal testing that results in the creation of safe products for human use and life-saving treatments and drugs, not the ethical and pain aspects. These individuals believe that testing on animals is vital in order to experience continual success within the medical field, “The California Biomedical Research Association states that nearly every medical breakthrough in the last 100 years has resulted directly from research using animals” (“Should Animals”). Without animal testing, this side argues that we would not be as advanced as we are today on a medical level when it comes to both major and common health issues.
Animal experimentation goes back to the 17th Century; its purpose is to use conscious animals as experiments where they practice the advances in medicine to assure a product’s safety before it is released to the market. For example, with the help of animal tests, scientists study new treatments for diseases in humans and animals. Must be remembered, laboratories in the U.S kill more than 100 million animals of different species a year when doing these experiments.
Using helpless animals for the benefit of human beings goes back thousands of years. A common theme has been present: the use of these animals has been necessary for survival. Of late, these essential sacrifices have metamorphosed into yield-less speculations. Animal testing is wrong based on these premises: there are available alternatives to direct testing on live animals, the results acquired rom the tests are inaccurate and repetitive, and ultimately it is speciesism, which is comparable to racism and sexism. Today’s society has progressed in other aspects, it is time for in-obligatory animal testing to be abolished. Cruelty to animals is inexcusable, avoidable and thoroughly repelling.
Animal testing has been vital for the development of new medicines and scientific studies for a long time. Whether it is ethically appropriate or not, however, is one of the most controversial issues in these days.
For years now people have been using animal experimentation to create new ways to help save the human race. There are people who believe that it does help, and that it is necessary to continue, while others oppose and want to fight for the elimination of animal experimentation. Scientists fight for the cures needed to help man kind, but struggle to do so as people fight against their work in progress. But as Jennifer A. Hurley stated, “History has already shown that animal experimentation is not essential to medical progress.” Stuart W.G. Derbyshire believes “The best hopes to treat or cure any number of diseases all rely in the current animal experiments.” Both sides have evidence that can allow both to be proven correct. But there are