When you see animals in pet shelters and on the infomercials for the ASPCA you wonder what will happen to or what has happened to these animals, some may been used for animal testing. Animal testing has been an issue for a long time and organizations have been fighting companies to try and stop this. An estimated 26 million animals are used in the United States each year for scientific and commercial testing. Research and testing has been used on animals as far back as 500 B.C.. The animals are used to develop medical treatments, check the safety of products for human use, to determine the toxicity levels of medications, biomedical, commercial and other health care uses. Most organizations say that animal testing is inhumane and cruel and that there are other methods researchers can use. And that the testing on animals can sometimes have irrelevant results. Physician-scientists like Herophilus, Aristotle and Erasistratus used animals to perform experiments to discover functions of living organisms. Aristotle thought that animals lacked intelligence and the notions of justice and injustice did not apply to animals. A Roman philosopher and physician Galen thought that animal physiology was very similar to that of humans and had very little sympathy for the animals he tested on. He used all different kinds of animals including elephants. Galen was noted for his theories of medicine and was very influential for fifteen centuries throughout europe. He engaged in
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.
When a young girl is looking at a magazine ad for the latest eyeshadow makeup, she notices that the model has on a shade of eyeshadow that looks gorgeous, but did she ever considered how that eyeshadow was manufactured? That makeup product was more than likely tested on animals for eye and skin irritation. Many research labs are using defenseless animals for testing and unnecessary experiments. There are three different types of people that have different thoughts. The one type of person really does not seem to bring the situation to life, and pushes it to the back of their mind, while the other type of person stands for animal testing because it may help save someone's life. Many people believe it is alright for animals to be used for extensive examining and those people think that since animals have similar biological DNA, scientists can use them for testings. Although, there are people who believe that animal testing is not okay, and does not need to exist. People who think that animal testing is bad will say that animal testing can be torture. During the act of animal testing, animals have no say in being tested on. It can be considered animal cruelty. Animals are not treated fairly after being tested on. Animal testing is not always reliable with data. Animals should not be used in medical and/or cosmetic lab testing for several compelling reasons.
The people who work for the ASPCA are dedicated to prevent animal cruelty. If there was a global ban on animal testing, it would end animal suffering for decades. “In short while, the AWA and the IACUC purport to insure ‘humane’ treatment of animals in labs, this system is so limited and plagued with loopholes that these animals have little or no protection,” (“Animals in Science/Research”), there are laws globally that ban animal testing. Unluckily, there are so many ways to avoid these laws that animals still are not protected. The United States Department of Agriculture and Department of Health and Human Services established institutional animal care. These agencies require that research faculties that “also use committees to evaluate the merits of research involving animals and monitor the treatment of experimental subjects,” (“Animal Experimentation”). This means that these agencies watch over the people who test the animals and limit their ability to do the harsh things they do to the animals. There are many ways to prevent animal testing. Some alternatives are different ways and different organisms are applied to enforce this strategy, as well as having a lower demand for animals. Some more are in “vitro (test tube) test methods and models based on human cell and tissue cultures, computerized patient-drug databases and virtual drug trials,
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.
Ninty two percent of drugs tested on animals immediately fail when first tried on humans. Each year 100 million animals are killed in labs for biology lessons, and experiments made off of curiosity. The animals get force feed, forced inhalation, low food and water, long periods of physical movement, burns and other wounds to study how they heal.
Animal testing remains a controversial subject and objections have been present virtually since its beginning. Over the past decades, medical and cosmetic companies have increased the number of animals in labs to test the effectiveness of their products. It is undeniable that animal testing has contributed to our advances in the fields of science; however, this method is not always requisite. Many times, animal data is unreliable because the anatomic, metabolic, and cellular differences between animals and people which may mislead researchers into disregard potential cures and treatments. Commonly animals used in experiments are forced to a prolonged periods of physical restraints, inhalation, and food and water deprivation. Large numbers of
Hundreds of lives and millions of dollars have been wasted on research regarding human prisoners. The information gathered usually can’t be used because it is not reliable, and the tests done did not follow rules that were already in place. When scientists begin to take advantage of prisoners or abuse their rights, their tests become irrelevant. Since prisoners have little to no rights, scientists use them to their own advantage. Many doctors, before the Nuremberg Code and the Hippocratic oath were enforced, made advancements in medicine by these malicious acts. These people were hurt and tortured due to the things that happened before laws were put in place and enforced. Many other problems arose from testing on prisoners and some even continue to affect how studies regarding prisoners are done today.
Animal testing protests have had a long and turbulent history. This argument is one that has been debated since the early 1960’s. It all began when animal rights activists began to take interest in the ethics, or lack thereof, of testing animals for scientific and cosmetic studies. Some of these activists call for researchers to ensure that all of their animals are humanely cared for, while other activists called for the complete end of animal testing. These debates would continue on into the 21st century. Since the inception of this debate there have been factions of radical activists, such as the Animal Rights Miltia, that focus on direct action, performing actions ranging from breaking and entering to arson and car bombings. The issue
In 2014 the University of Sydney killed eight marmosets to study the retinas from eight eyes and explore a type of cell that exists in the eye. The study states that “only one eye was used from each of the marmosets” and whilst the study allowed them to better characterize the cell, it did not contribute to any medical advancements for humans (Humane Research Australia, 2016). This inhumane treatment of animals makes one wonder about the ethicality of these animal research experimentations. Animal testing is a global ethical issue because it negates the dignity of animals. Scientists and medical professionals support animal testing as a means to enhance and prolong human life, whereas PETA and RSPCA oppose animal testing because it does
Why are you more important than other innocent lives? Animal testing is a method of experimentation scientists use to observe the effects of a variety of things to decide if they are safe for humans. Innocent lives are being taken with little to no outcome for the majority of the experiments. This act should be illegal worldwide on the ground that scientists themselves regret their work, an abundance of animals are experimented on, and there are alternative methods that have proven successful.
Animals are used by scientists to develop research for new medications and experiments daily. The Humane Society is working to decrease the use of animals in laboratories by promoting the advancement of affective alternative approaches. Animal testing provides a useful model for treatments of diseases and possible cures. According to the US-based foundation of Biomedical Research, animal testing has made a major advance within the last century- for veterinary health and humans. The practice of using animals for testing has been debated for many decades. Is it morally right or wrong to use animals during experiments? Does federal law ensure that animals used in research are treated humanely? When considering the benefits of animal testing,
A similar belief influenced the rules of the Catholic church dominated cultures of the middle ages. It wasn’t until the renaissance period beginning in the 14th century that experimenters were emboldened to defy the church and began to perform research on illegally obtained human cadavers (Matthews, 2004). Animals, however, were still used during this time for experiments as well as a teaching instrument for medical students. It was commonly believed that animals were both soulless and senseless, incapable of feeling pain, thus freeing scientists of any ethical responsibilities towards their test subjects (Horner & Minnifie, 2011).
Scientists expose animals to undue suffering through medical research, while not all animals suffer,many will on at least some minor scale. It is known that there can be an up and downstream of whether animal experimentation is a part of good science resulting in medical breakthroughs for humans. This depends on whether the progress made has been achieved by any mean. Millions of animals each year in the United States are put through experiments and tests to help find cures and medicine for sick people and patients. The toxicity of chemicals is deposited into animals that are taking the risk of whether the tests are successful or not so that people can research further more. Research saves lives and is an encouragement to make people's lives better, but what about the animals that are being
The fascination with using humans for scientific research has been around centuries. It is a common view that human experimentation is unethical and used as an unnecessary means to advance medical research. Historically, experiments involving humans were often done on prisoners, patients in mental facilities and minorities. Presently, there is a code of ethics researchers must follow to ensure the safety of participants and to preserve their human rights. I will be analyzing the historical background of human trials and comparing them to present day experiments formerly known as clinical trials. Lastly, I will explain the risks involved with these experiments and the implications surrounding them. In addition, I will
Animal testing, although a controversial topic, affects a great deal of scientists and the work force in the agriculture field. This topic has proven difficult to communicate to one another about because there are individuals that believe animals should have certain rights and others believe that animals have no rights. Our group wanted to research this topic because we want to gain knowledge and become more understanding toward the people on both sides of the spectrum. Digging more into the research we found that cosmetics, medical use, and food are the most widely used methods for experimentation. With these research fields, people are finding ways to appeal to the ethics of the modern-day consumer.