Webster’s Dictionary defines a vivisection as, animal experimentation especially if considered to cause distress to the subject. Since 450 BC animals have been used in scientific research. Greek philosopher Alcmaeon performed the first vivisection in 450 BC. Other Greek scientists, including Aristotle and Erasistratus, also used vivisection, or live animals in their experiments. Years later Roman scientist Claudius Galen became known as the Father of Vivisection. Galen’s work on various animals assisted him in his study of muscles and nerves. In the seventeenth century, vivisection was also used by English doctor William Harvey to determine how blood is circulated through the body.
In the eighteenth century, English doctor Edward Jenner developed one of the first vaccines using animal tissue. He used pus from a cow that had a disease called cowpox, which was similar to smallpox, Jenner used the pus to protect a child against the more lethal smallpox. The following century, Louis Pasteur, a French chemist, experimented on farm animals when developing vaccines for rabies and anthrax (“Animal” 1). After the incident regarding sulfanilamide, in which many people died, the US government passed a law that required animal testing before a drug could be administered to the public. But since then there has been an outcry for a switch to alternatives. To a certain extent, lawmakers have listened. The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 provides test animals some protections under the law. In
Many Americans are dreaming of the “perfect” long lasting and healthy life and some of that may be possible to achieve with animal testing. Animal testing is saving lives through breakthrough advancements in medicine. Plus, this is happening without causing extreme amounts of animal fatalities.If there was another way to test for medicine scientists would use it, but unfortunately, animal testing is the one and only
Millions of people were killed by incurable diseases, such as smallpox, rabies, et cetera before the 18th century due to lack of knowledge in developing drugs and vaccine at that time. People caught by the diseases were hopeless because they knew that no one could help them. In the mid 1800s, animal testing was introduced to drug industry by Edward Jenner (Trueman, 2002). His brilliant discovery in developing smallpox vaccine by using animals helped a lot of people and gave hope to the medical field that incurable diseases were not incurable anymore. Although he was not the first man to use animal in experiments, his success made animal testing become commonly used in drug
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.
Animal vivisection is the study, experimentation and research of any animal. Animal rights activists are opposed to using animals for medical research and experimentation because humans do not have the right to use animals. With very few exceptions, we do not experiment on humans without their consent. Animals can’t give informed consent and the vast majority of experiments using animals are so invasive and damaging, that we would never even consider allowing humans to being subject to such experiments. Every year, animals are dissected, infected, injected, gassed, burned and blinded in hidden laboratories all over the world, most of the time without anesthetic or pain killers. If they aren’t killed by the testing, the animals are often not kindly but brutally killed. The dead animals are frequently left stacked in wheelbarrows in front of the animal cages.
Vivisection, surgery conducted on a living organism for experimentative purposes, dates back to 2nd-century Rome. It was pioneered by Claudius Galenus, more commonly known as Galen of Pergamon, who experimented on animals to understand the human body. However, Galen was a poor scientist and failed to recognize major bodily functions like blood circulation (Osborn). In fact, Galen’s false assumptions hindered the medical progress in Europe. From its origin, vivisection has proven to be an inaccurate method for experimentation; thus, ending this practice and adopting a new, more practical procedure is the practical route to take.
“Over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused in US labs every year.” “Also in Canada, 3.02 million animals were used in experiments in 2013 and 78,294 animals were subjected to severe pain near, at, or above the pain tolerance threshold of unanesthetized conscious animals.” Animal testing is frequently used for developing beauty products and medicines and in a lot more areas. Many people believe that the animal testing is necessary for humans. New vaccines and medicines are being developed continuously as humans are exposed to the pollution and lots of diseases. However, it is hazardous and fearful for people to use a new medicine without knowing its effect. People want to be guaranteed to the least safety and the virtue of the medicine.
Vivisection—the practice of performing operations on live animals for the purpose of experimentation or scientific research— is one of the worst forms of animal abuse in our culture. Within-laboratory walls, what can occur to animals have no limits. Imagine spending the rest of your life as a hospital patient or as a prisoner, and that only begins to explain your life in a lab. What happens to you can be anywhere from uncomfortable to excruciating to agonizing and deadly—and the worst part is you’re helpless to defend yourself.
Firstly, it is important to understand what exactly animal vivisection is, as well as the aspects of science in which it is used.
The Food and Drug Administration, FDA, said that because of animal testing a majority of “vaccines, antibiotics, anesthetics, surgical procedures, and other approaches developed in animals for human use” are used by veterinarians to diagnose, treat sick and injured animals.(16). If vaccines were not tested on animals, millions of animals would have died from rabies, infectious hepatitis virus, canine parvo virus, and many more (17). Animal testing have also been involved in saving endangered species from extinction; a few examples would be: The Virginia Northern Flying Squirrel, Gray Wolf, Island Night Lizard and Steller Sea Lion. (18) These animals were saved from extinction through techniques like artificial insemination and embryo transfer
The debate about using animals for medical testing has been raging for years. The struggle always seems to be between extremist animal rights activists who believe that animals should never be used for research, and scientists who believe that any use of animals is acceptable. There are a growing number who argue that there must be a reasonable middle ground. I contend that there must be a significant decrease in the number of animals used by humans to further human goals. I will give a historical account of animal use, provide some statistics about animal use, present some arguments against the use of animals and present Singer's view
Vivisection, even though it’s not commonly known, is the study of experimentations and research on animals.
Vivisection, dissection, and injections were techniques used during prehistoric times. Vivisection and dissection were banned from Greece; yet, Galen still used both techniques almost every day during the research. At the time, these techniques were seen as very insightful however, the information the scientist got from experiments were often misused. For example, according to, History of Vivisection (2012), “Galen’s description of the uterus was based on dogs; the position of the kidneys was based on pigs; and his understanding of the brain was based on cows or goats” (pg.1). Moreover, dissections became a popular method used for testing animals; it became so popular that dissections were performed live in theatres for students to witness. The techniques used during this time were conducted on living animals. Therefore, these techniques caused a lot of controversy regarding its ethicality. The question of ethicality is a leech that will not leave, and has been dragged into present times causing huge
“All you have to do is think of any major medical advances of the last 100 years to see the benefit of animal testing,”(Morrison, par.8). Without testing, we could never guess if the drugs were safe enough to be used on humans. Secondly, animals make up 36% (excluding insects and water animals) of living species. There is a large supply of animals that can be used for medical purposes, close to “26 million animals in the U.S. are being used for animal testing,”(Finter,
Testing on animals has been a method used for human advancement for thousands of years. The surgery that is conducted on living beings in known as vivisection; this practice has been dated back to the time of the ancient Greeks and Romans alike, using various procedures prior to the application on human subjects. Thanks to the help of these animals, countless people have been able to survive previously untreatable diseases due to the remarkable medical advances that have been developed. Diabetes, tuberculosis, and polio are a few to name within the myriad of other medical breakthroughs. “Animal experimentation, combined with the dissection of dead humans, allowed the scientists to learn about how the human body works and ultimately led
Imagine yourself strapped to a table while strangers with cold hands pry open your eyes to drop a burning liquid onto your pupils, all while poking and prodding your limbs. This kind of needless torture happens hundreds of times every day as scientists try to find answers to scientific questions, only to find out that all of the pain and suffering was all for nothing. Animal dissection has a long history that dates back to the Stone Age, but did not gain traction until the seventeenth century. At this time, English physician William Harvey managed to demonstrate circulation of blood using animals and then applied it to humans showing the value of vivisection for accurately illustrating physiology as well as anatomy in 1628 (Judson 15). After