Animal Testing : Is It Ethical?

Worldwide, there has always been a plethora of issues concerning whether animals should or should not be used for biomedical research. There are some advocating for the best and most-advanced medicine for the people; with disregard for the animal’s health. They believe people’s needs should be the first concern. However, others put the animal’s health first. If the animal is not in safe conditions, then it does not matter what medicine advances might be discovered. Biomedical research is defined as “The application of the natural sciences, especially the biological and physiological sciences, to clinical medicine” (“Biomedicine.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/biomedical.). Without biomedical research on animals, modern medicine would not exist. Animal testing has enabled the findings of treatments for cancer, antibiotics for infections, and preventatives for illnesses. For these reasons, animal testing should be used in the process of developing biomedical research.

Clorox, Johnson & Johnson, Covergirl, Colgate; all of these bands are well known and very popular. They also are four of the biggest name brands that still test their products on animals before selling them in stores. Organizations like People for Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA have been exposing and discouraging the support of these companies. This helps discourage companies to not animal test, which they should not. Companies should not test products on animals because it is unethical, animals make bad test subjects, and there are alternative testing methods.

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 have successfully been used to understand biological processes, assess safety of different chemicals, develop vaccines and antibiotics, produce treatments for hepatitis C, rheumatoid arthritis, polio, diabetes and many more . However, it is impossible to know if the use of animals was required to acquire this research or if the amount of suffering and death could have been reduced or avoided in order to achieve the same results. It is well established that animals have been invaluable in the pursuit of biomedical research, and the benefits from using animals currently means that eliminating animal research is also immoral. This is because the benefits received from some research greatly outweigh the potential costs to the animals and it would be unjust not to perform such experiments. Consequently, animal research should not be fully banned due to the benefits it yields, but should be more heavily regulated to reduce the moral costs.

It is estimated that each year over 100 million animals in the United States are used for animal testing (ProCon.org, 2017). This is unlikely an underestimate as it is impossible to receive a correct count worldwide. Thousands of animals are to be euthanized from the complications they endure from testing. Animals are used to test scientific developments and commercial products. New medical and non-medical experiments are tested on animals to verify the harmfulness of new medications or the safety of a product that will be used on humans. Although the importance of animal testing brings more medical advancement over the years using fewer humans in experiments, it is still an expensive way of researching inaccurate results and at the same time, it is a practice of animal cruelty.

“Over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused in US labs every year” (11 Facts). Animal testing is a very flawed creation in today’s world. This innovation has caused much harm to many animals while also hurting the opinions of animal activists around the world. Animal testing is also known as the use of animals in experiments and development projects usually to determine toxicity, dosing and efficacy of test drugs before proceeding to human clinical trials (Biology Online). The use of animal testing has been around for throughout all of history, it also carries its disadvantages as they diminish the lives of many animals along with their unspoken opinion while also having some advantages, and lastly this notion is very expensive (Scutti).

Animal rights argue that researches on animal is an unethical or a cruel way of obtaining cures for humans. During examination more than 10 billion animals die due to the wrong administration of injections. Many animals are subjected to forced inhalation, feeding, dehydration and burns. During assessment animals are put through severe sufferings such as electric shocks, brain damage, blinding, withholding of food and water, immobilization of entire body and other painful procedures. Many of the animals die before or sometimes after the experiment. Some of the lab experiments which cause extreme discomfort and sufferings are anesthetization, intubations and euthanasia, when performed improperly. Unfortunately, the lack of experience and

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.

U.S. Food and Drug administration declared that “currently, nine out of ten experimental drugs fail in clinical studies because we cannot accurately predict how they will behave in people based on laboratory and animal studies” (qtd. in "Experiments on Animals: Overview" n.d.).Therefore animal testing is not used in great number to advance knowledge but rather to find the “one-in-a-million” chance that it could help. The fact that animal research for scientific purposes cannot be directly implied to humans most of the time in it of itself brings controversy. This is because subjecting animals to harmful testing for human medical advancement with a great chance that the results cannot be used to achieve said advancement seems inhumane to many.

In conclusion, animal research is important to saving the lives of many people. Animal testing is used to determine how much of a drug is being absorbed into the blood. Animal testing enabled the development of countless lifesaving treatments for both humans and animals, that there is no alternative method for researching a completely living organism and that strictly regulates and prevents the mistreatment of animals in the laboratory. (prezi.com) Animals should be used in laboratories to continue to find advancements

Is animal testing right or wrong? When all aspects are looked at animal testing can save many lives and is all around good for human health. Many people debate that it is animal abuse and its just not right but how many people does animal testing help. Many question that are asked is how does animals help, why should we use animals, and with new research should we still use animals.

Good morning. The topic of our debate is on whether or not it is ethical for animals to be tested on. Animal testing has led to the discovery of cures, treatments, and it ensures the safety of animals in human products. Animal testing provides benefits to animals as well because it allows humans to know what animals can and can't have. Animals are similar to humans and would react about the same as a human would, so it makes them a reliable testing source. A cure for tuberculosis, which infects two million people each year, uses this process. The test subject animal being guinea pigs. So far, UCLA, a university which uses animals as test subjects, has created a stronger vaccine against tuberculosis than the current one. According to Understanding

In conclusion, animal testing should not be allowed, because animals suffer and most of the time die. Animal testing is expensive, animals feel pain and humans and animals are not the same, so the testing would not be accurate. Testings animals comes with a price and a life. It may solve some problems for America, but it creates them too. So, is animal testing acceptable or

For the past 20 years, there has a been an on going heated debate on whether experiments on animals for the benefit of medical and scientific research is ethical. Whether it is or isn't, most people believe that some form of cost-benefit test should be performed to determine if the action is right. The costs include: animal pain, distress and death where the benefits include the collection of new knowledge or the development of new medical therapies for humans. Looking into these different aspects of the experimentation, there is a large gap for argument between the different scientists' views. In the next few paragraphs, both sides of the argument will be expressed by the supporters.

Whether animal experimentation is justified or not has been undecided for many decades. Many years back, the debate was carried out by animal rights groups which were led by the Cambridge University to get rid of its plan for a primate research in 2004. Since this debate, many supporters have become more confident in speaking out what they believe and getting their points across to people.