Animal Testing Is Unethical?

As of 2015, 200 to 225 million animals are said to used in laboratory research for the biomedical industry annually worldwide. Typically defended by arguments of reliability and human health benefits, recently the question of ethics and values placed on animal testing have caused it to become a relevant and pressing topic that has been more widely discussed and debated. First off, the laboratory conditions that are instigated upon millions of animal models for the sake of medical research has been said to be unethical and cruel. Additionally, it has been debated that the results of animal experimentation are unreliable across a wide range of areas. Lastly, animal testing not only leads away from the direction of resources from more effective testing methods but also prolongs the duration of time humans may need to wait for an effective cure. Therefore, the potential benefits of animal experimentation are greatly outweighed by the risks and collective harm of humans and animals which is why resources should be directed towards more human-based testing procedures.

Thesis: Animal testing is a heavy topic that usually goes unnoticed. To many scientists, animal testing is beneficial and to society it is morally wrong.

The harmful use of animals in experiments is not only cruel and inhumane but also often ineffective. Animals do not get many of the human diseases that people do, such as major types of heart disease, many types of cancer, HIV, Parkinson’s disease, or schizophrenia. There have been past occasions where drugs passed on animals weren’t even safe. There is no excuse for animal testing in today’s techy world, there are now many alternatives for animal testing that would put an end to the pain and suffering endured by these innocent animals during human testing.

Do you know how many animals are killed yearly for the use of animal testing? More than 100 million animals are murdered. Testing on animals is cruel and inhumane. However, alternate methods can be used to replace the need for animals. As a final point, animal tests are more expensive than other methods. Animals have been used to practice on since antient times.

Animal testing, as previously mentioned, is not as reliable as it is made out to be. It is extremely difficult to replicate the complexity of a disease in humans and translate it to an animal through artificial induce it into an animal. Even if the disease is successfully replicated animals often don't react the same to medications as humans do (Akhtar, 1). The best example of this is that of Thalidomide, which despite animal testing caused deformations in babies born from women who took this drug. After the incident, producers retested the drug on animals, still not finding said deformities in any of the animals it was tested on (Greek, 1). In the article “How Reliable is Animal Testing” Author C Ray Greek makes the statement “An animal that responds like humans to one medication will not necessarily respond the same way to another medicine”, which was the case in the incident with the Thalidomide. This oversight when testing animals can lead to unforeseen fatalities and did lead to the deformation and in many cases death of thousands of babies affected by Thalidomide (Greek, 1). Animal testing is not only unreliable but in some cases even harmful and often does not lead to break through discoveries in the scientific field. In the article “The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal Experimentation”

In history, animal experimentation has played a significant important role in leading to new discoveries and human benefit. However, what many people tend to forget are the numbers of animal subjects that have suffered serious harm during the process of experimentation. Each day across America innocent animals are used as test subjects for products that have little to no relevance importance. Animal testing has had many negative issues arise in society in a negative way. Debating over the animal rights movement has raised many questions and concerns for years. There is an ongoing controversy regarding if companies should stop testing their products on animals. Although animal research has been the cause of many medical breakthroughs, is it morally and ethically right to put animals in these kinds of situations? This is one of the underlying questions that must be solved before it is too late. When considering how truly reliable the results of animal test are, and the expense of testing will help bring new light to the problem. By simply passing a policy will not only address this issue, will help better products and medicine in the future.

Supporters of animal testing might say that the tests help find new research that gets us one step closer to curing many diseases but they are misguided. Research shows that animals have different structure when compared to human beings making them poor test subjects. Animals have significantly different anatomic, metabolic, and cellular differences that make it hard to compare to humans. This fact proves that animal testing will get us nowhere in curing or helping humans in any way. Studies have shown that it creating an animal model that mimics the human model is nearly impossible . This statement is also false because animal tests may mislead researchers into ignoring potential cures and treatments.If it misleads the researches then it does not make sense for animal testing to still exist. One example of this case is chemicals that are proven harmful for animals but proven beneficial for humans. One case of this incident is aspirin where it seemed to cause liver failure for animals but benefits

“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).

Research on living animals has been practiced since at least 500 BC. An estimated 26 million animals are used every year in the United States for scientific and commercial testing. The use of animals for scientific testing should not continue because animal testing can be cruel, some animals aren’t protected by law, and there are alternative testing methods.

Thousands of animals are hurt and even killed because of animal testing every year. Scientists use animals of all kinds, apes, mice, rabbits, cats, etc. to experiment on. These experiments range from giving them drugs, to see what effect they might have on humans, to testing what extreme heat would do to the human body. The outcome of these experiments are often harm and even death. Animal testing is not morally justified because it causes harm to live animals, there are suitable alternatives to animal testing, and there are too many differences between humans and animals to be able to call the outcome “Accurate”.

The method of using animals for testing of human products has been a controversial issue for the last thirty years. Animal testing has been a considerably debated practice. The question is whether animal testing is morally right or wrong. Animal testing is wrong because of the other side says that animals are the closest things to humans. Testing on animals harms the animals and does not do us any good.

Is Animal Testing Ethical? Right now, innocent animals are suffering due to experimentation for human products. Scientists are testing products and new medical treatments on animals to see if they are safe for human use. The treatments of these animals is also unethical, and they are forced to live in small, cramped spaces.

Animal testing has been happening for decades. It has lead to medical discoveries such as the discovery of penicillin. It seems vital. However, there have been many technological advances during the past years that have as much accuracy as animal testing. While some believe that animal research is vital, it shouldn’t be continued because technological simulations can replace animal testing and most animal experiments taking place now don’t improve human health.

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.

For decades, mankind has used animals to progress efficiently in scientific research. Animal testing is important for medical science and other beneficial experiments. Many citizens criticize scientists for testing on animals for unnecessary means other than medical research. Many of today’s current vaccines and disease treatments would have been delayed without the use of animals. People across the globe have been saved through organ transplants by persistent research on animals. Many material products and medical accomplishments people take for granted wouldn’t have been possible without animal testing.