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, …show more content…
A Judeo-Christian interpretation from the Bible stated that “dominion over animals meant that any degree of exploitation was acceptable has changed for most people to mean that each person has responsibility for animal welfare (Aquinas T., 2006).” Animal testing is essential for developing lifesaving treatments. Due to experiments on animals we have treatments for diabetics, tuberculosis, breast cancer, malaria and brain injuries. Immunizations against mumps, polio, and hepatitis has saved a countless number of lives thanks to the discovery of new drugs. Roughly ninety-five percent of all lab animals are special-bred mice and rats. The balance of animals that are tested on is rabbits, guinea pigs, sheep, pigs, and fruit flies. Rodents are considered the number one choice for modern medical researchers because they have a short life span. They choose animals that have a life span of two to three years because that allows the scientists to observe what happens during the “fast forward” stage. Six out of the eight major discoveries were recognized with Nobel Prizes, some of which involve the bone-marrow transplant, cloning of genes, and the detection of proto-oncogenes in normal DNA. The essential need for animal research and observation is supported by health agencies and medical associations around the world. Animal experimenting is the best and the safest
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.
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.
Alternatives in animal testing has been a huge controversial debate around the world for years. Many researchers and scientists try to stray away from the term “alternatives” because to them, it suggests that no animals whatsoever can be completely replaced. 1 The CAAT, the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing, is based on the principles of the ‘3Rs’: replacement, reduction, and refinement. Replacement basically means the way it sounds, the animals are replaced by other methods not involving animals such as in vitro techniques, which contain human cells and tissue models that can imitate real life organs of the human body. Reduction and refinement, the other two Rs, means to cut down the number of animals used in a particular study
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.
Although animal testing can have its benefits, all in all, not giving a voice or rights to a living creature is not acceptable and unethical. Animals may not have voices to stand up for themselves but that’s where society's help comes in place, they are their voice. So far what has been accomplished is giving some sort of help like passing the Animal Welfare Act but it does not mean it is always equally beneficial for all animals. “95% of animals used in experiments are not protected by the Animal Welfare Act” (ProCon.org). This is because the AWA does not protect mice, rats, fish, and birds.
Animal testing has become a wide contribution in medical field in order to find new treatment, developing new medicines and improving the existing ones as well as testing the safety and effectiveness of new medicines. Some medicines development is depending on animal research, for instances, vaccines and insulin for diabetes and kidney transplants. However, there are many diseases that their cures are still undiscovered yet and one of them is AIDS (Tanir, 2012). Frankie L. Trull once said in his article of Animal Test Research Has Saved Many Human Lives, “[…] fight against cancer has seen 24 significant biomedical advances in the past 30 years. None of them could have occurred without animal research.” Therefore, this
Animal testing is defined as the use of non-human animals in research or development projects for purposes of determining the safety of substances, such as food or drugs. Currently scientists are testing on mice to find a cure for cancer. That benefits humans, but what about the mice? Instead of testing animals, scientists should use one of the many alternative methods to test their products. Scientists should not test on any kind of animal.
“For as long as medical science has existed, animal experimentation has played a major role in research.” (Parks 9) When animals are in trials they are forced to eat and inhale substances, are exposed to harsh chemicals, and their organs are removed to observe internal effects (Yashiki 1). Millions of mice, rabbits, primates, cats, dogs, and other animals are being used for experimentations across the United States (Animal 1). Primates will be tested on if there is a scientific question that can not be answered by using other animals (Parks 25). Animals can spend their entire lives being studies because they have such short life spans (Parks 10). Up to 92 percent of the drugs that are tested on those animals and were considered safe will be proved unsafe in human trials (Yashiki 12). The FDA requires that any new drug be tested on animals first to determine the impact it will have on the human body (Parks 11). Although scientists are primarily the one's who test on animals, they also have been trying to make new ways of testing products (Yashiki 4). Researchers have discovered ways of creating cell and tissue models that replicate those of humans. These models can be used in place of mice, rats, rabbits, etc. (Alternatives 4). Testing on animals, especially in the medical research department, can be beneficial. It has helped provided safe drugs and panaceas to people
At many other labs the owners of them require its scientist to have to kind of animal care certification (Wade). At many labs they have a class that the scientist can take so that they are qualified to work at their lab (Wade). Most labs will also have animal care professionals on their site to take care of the animals. But sometimes, the caretakers aren’t caring for the animals, and they end up suffering from even more pain (Wade).
Animal experimentation has become a common practice among scientists around the world for various purposes, specifically including the improvement of human lives. With this in mind, to what lengths are we willing to go far enough to realize that animal experimentation is costing us our own humanity and compassion to the world around us? In the United States alone, there are over 100 million animals that are burned, crippled, or killed during in vivo studies in laboratories. In vivo is latin for “Taking place inside a living organism”. The studies inside living animals include various forms of animal experimentation that not only could be deadly but gruesome. Animal experimentation has gotten out of hand, and it
The subject on animal testing has been a highly debated topic, with years of studies showing how many animals are forced into animal testing. Many scientists have been studying how many animals die, even showing that as many as, even more then, 100 million animals are killed in laboratories in the United States alone. This includes mice, rats, frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys, fish, and even birds. That isn’t even including the ones that are still alive every day being tested on, forced into being tested on, trapped in cages being forced to eat and endure harsh chemicals.
“According to Humane Society International, animals used in experiments are commonly subjected to force feeding, forced inhalation, food and water deprivation, prolonged periods of physical restraint, the infliction of burns and other wounds to study the healing process, the infliction of pain to study its effects and remedies, and ‘killing by carbon dioxide asphyxiation, neck-breaking, decapitation, or other means.‘ “ - Animal Testing
Animal testing is known as animal experiments. This type of testing is driven to test chemicals, drugs, foods, etc. People say that animal testing is good for people because this is a chance to save more lives in the U.S.; then another part say that animal testing is bad because some of the tests that they do on them is not always effecting humans in the same way. To tell the truth, animal testing is good if wanting to save the population that we live in. All drugs may not affect humans and animals the same way, but testing is done on animals because their body corresponds like peoples. The good thing about animal testing is that it ensures human safety; all tests cannot ethically be done on humans, and treated animals give better test results.
When most of us use cosmetics, or pickup a prescription from our local CVS, we very rarely consider how many animals’ lives were taken away and sacrificed to ensure product quality. As the topic is discussed widely between animal rights activists and the groups pro-animal testing, many people argue that the benefits of medical research outweigh the pain and suffering of animals. As I explored the perspectives of these groups, the pro and con lists widely ranged on beliefs, cultures, and ideas. Many pros being how the main focus group who have gained back their lives due to vaccines and medicines that have first been tested on animals. The cons however, being how many believe that animal testing is cruel and inhumane as innocent lives of animals who have no choice in the testing are being taken away by many of these tests. I think the biggest issues in this topic are that we are sacrificing certain lives just to try to save others, using the theories that humans are above the lives of animals just because animals can't stand up for themselves and have no choice in what they're being subjected to and have no say in whether they live or die. Animal research has led to amazing results in biomedical advances and product safety for human consumption. However, the human benefits do not justify the animals' pain and suffering, therefore animal testing should be stopped.
Animal experimentation is testing on animals such as guinea pigs, chimpanzees, rats, birds, and many other species, to find new medical discoveries and test new products for safety before sold for human consumption. Ever since ancient Greek times, animal testing has been used to learn more about the anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology of human beings. It wasn’t until 2011, when US Senator Maria Cantwell brought up the issue of animal experimentation in a bill called S. 810, the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act. This law would have prohibited scientists from owning or performing any invasive testing on apes, or any other species of monkeys. It would have also stopped federal funding for all of the testing and required all organizations that owned the apes to retire them. Animal testing has now become a topic of discussion and debate among the government and medical researchers. However, due to the fact that animal testing is a waste of money, ethically wrong, and puts a limitation on knowledge of human anatomy, animal experimentation should not be legal.