Essay about Negative Aspects of Animal Testing

It is always said that animals are used for experimentation because genetically they are closest to human beings but if they are this closely related, why are we abusing and torturing them? This is affected ignorance. In her article, “Affected Ignorance and Animal Suffering” Nancy Williams talks about different forms of affected ignorance. One form stood out more than others, “when people refuse to acknowledge the connection between their actions and the consequent suffering of their victims.” The experiments performed on animals are said to be beneficial to those animals, but studies have shown that animal testing could mislead researchers into ignoring cures and treatments. There are chemicals beneficial to human beings but harmful or ineffective to animals, such as aspirin (Akhtar). There are some medicines that have been tested on animals that provide benefits to these animals but when used in human testing, the results were less than great. For example, the drug thalidomide, which was a sleeping pill used in the 1950s, caused severe birth defects in ten thousand newborns. However, when the drug was tested on pregnant animals such as mice, rats, guinea pigs, cats, and hamsters there was no birth defects unless given at an extremely high dosage (Greek). The use of animals in experiments are unreliable when it comes to testing

Throughout history, animal experimentation has played an important role in leading to new discoveries and human benefit. However, what many people tend to forget are the great numbers of animal subjects that have suffered serious harm during the process of experimentation. Many people are believed to be ignorant or misunderstand the nature of the lives that animals actually live, and are unable to understand the actual laboratory procedures and techniques. Other than the philosophical questions that arise, ethical (moral) questions are the main reason why many animal right activists want it banned in every country. Activists feel that to this day, there should be no good reason why any living thing should be subjected to this cruel punishment and unwanted torture just for serving another being’s needs.

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

It is not ethical to harm any animal and one must not go against his or her morals. Scientists are often blinded by the negative effects against the animals. They are slit opened, poisoned, and tortured. Imagine being contained in an insufficient amount of area, chances are, you may often experience impaired brain development or anxious behaviors. Pre-experimentation conditions is not where it ends, animals experience harmful scenarios that occur in a laboratory. Often, animals are injected with conditions that a healthy animal may not be familiar with. Species of all kinds experience psychological reactions from drugs that are provided to them. Over the many, not just one, but many laboratories, monkeys are addicted to drugs, cats consist of holes drilled into their skulls, rats have their spinal cords crushed, and many indescribable conditions are forced into animals. It has been identified that an estimated 26 million animals are used every year in just only the U.S for research. Currently, the number of animals dead in experiments is unknown, as no attention is provided towards the issue. How heartless can the society

At this moment, millions of animals know cold cages in laboratories as home, but why? Some of these animals are subjects for medical research purposes, while others are used out of pure curiosity and to test different products. Majority of these animals are used in painful experiments and are left in agony. While many of them die, a few animals survive, but these unfortunate ones wish they could be put out of their misery as well. Although scientists have resources they could use to lower the pain each animal endures and even alternatives of their test subjects, millions of innocent creatures are still suffering. The fact that animals are still used when animal experimentation is avoidable and not necessary makes animal testing unethical.

Animals are found throughout lives of humans. As companions, entertainment, test subjects and food, animals serve vital roles throughout our lives.The Animal Bill of Rights, through the Animal Legal Defense Fund, attempts to defend the basic legal rights of all animals. However, to weigh the need for such an act, one must compare the suffering of animals to the benefits such suffering gives to humankind. It’s much more important to highlight the crucial medical advances that lab animals have provided over the injustices they may suffer, but this suffering can not and should not be ignored. It is with measure that we do not enact a bill of rights for animals, however we bring new awareness of animal research and the ethical treatment of all

Millions of animals suffer due to effects of testing they must endure. This testing is usually done unethically and causes major harm. It’s wrong to harm animals for the sake of testing products for society. Furthermore, animals are living creatures just like humans and should not be treated differently. While testing animals may be cheaper, it is morally wrong and causes many harmful side effects in animals.

(Allusion) These animals are forced to live in their own personal hell (Metaphor) where they are used in different experiments and are often subject to forced feeding and inhalation in addition to being deprived of water and food for prolonged periods of time. They are restrained and burned so that scientists can study the healing process of wounds, while the pain they feel is to study the effects of remedies. Would you want to be restrained while scientists inject you with strange substances, or pour liquids in your eyes and spread creams on you? (Rhetorical Q) According to PETA (Allusion), more than 100 million animals are used every year in unnecessary, cruel and unreliable experiments (Repetition of key point) such as drug, food, chemical and cosmetic tests but exact numbers can not be provided because 95% of all the animals used are not protected by the Animal Welfare Act. This act minimally protects live or dead cats, dogs, guinea pigs, rabbits, monkeys or hamsters but does not protect birds, mice, rats and farm animals used for food and other purposes. The act regulates transportation and housing of the animals but it does not regulate the actual experiments, which allows the scientists to do unnecessary tests on the animals without getting in any

There is humane ways to do research. Such as the In Vitro method. This method uses a system that mimics the structure and function of the human organs and organ system. This can be used in disease research, drug testing, and cosmetics. It also allows for cancer screening, and to test new surgical operations. Scientists are developing new cell and tissue tests. This alternative is less costly and way more reliable than using animal tests. In 2004 there was an arthritis drug called Vioxx that was tested on animals. If appeared to be safe, but it was later recalled

Thousands of innocent animals are being hurt, blinded and even drugged for scientific research. What makes humans have the right to exploit innocent animals and expose them to harm? “Anything that can feel pain should not be put to pain”, stated Dolgin R.M. It is true, animals have the same rights human beings do and just because they can’t communicate doesn’t mean they don't feel the pain in which they're put through. Amongst tested animals, 103,764 of them weren’t given medications to alleviate suffering or pain and were forced to take the test for scientific research (http://www.animaltestingfacts.net). At the moment plenty of mice, rabbits, monkeys and amongst other animals are locked up in cages across the U.S. laboratories as they languish in pain and dream to be freed. Not only are these defenseless animals suffering from cruelty that they undergo every day but so are humans receiving unreliable products.

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

The lab animals are always being observed and treated. The lab animals may experience “blinding, cutting, piercing, burning, freezing, force-feeding, starvation, electric shock, isolation, or other stressful conditions” (Dove). While these conditions may be cruel and harsh, it’s important to remember that each procedure is for a reason. The treatments endured by the animals are in hopes of creating a better outcome for humans. Each condition listed above is used for people with “smoking, vision, pain, hearing, impotence, and other medical conditions” (Dove). The tests performed on animals will help those battling illnesses and life threatening diseases. The overall experiences that animals endure are creating a healthier life for

Animals also suffer and perish in classroom biology experiments through dissections and such, even though modern non-animal tests have shown to provide more educational value, save teachers plenty of time, and conserve a lot of the school’s money. The only U.S. law that governs the use of animals in laboratories – the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), “allows animals to be burned, shocked, poisoned, isolated, starved, forcibly restrained, addicted to drugs, and brain-damaged. No experiment, no matter how painful or trivial, is prohibited—and painkillers are not even required.” Even though another possibility to the use of animals are evidently available, U.S. law does not require that they be used—and often they aren’t. Because the AWA precisely rejects rats, mice, birds, and cold-blooded animals, more than 95 percent of the animals used in research laboratories are not even sheltered by the minimal protection supplied by federal laws, and since they aren’t protected, scientists aren’t even obliged to have to provide them with pain

Frequently, scientists do not use pain relievers on animals because it is not required. An article called “Cruelty to Animals in Laboratories” by PETA stated, “After enduring these terrifying, painful procedures, animals are then usually dumped back into a cage without any painkillers.” (1). Depending upon the procedure performed, this could put animal test subjects through large amounts of pain and suffering. There is a concerning lack of actionable regulation and governance regarding animal testing and research as well. Scientists are legally able to test almost any procedure they wish, regardless of the harsh or painful circumstances. The cruel treatment and faulty procedures used on animals have caused unnecessary deaths of animals. These needless deaths are usually caused by accidents in experiments, harsh treatment, or carelessness and neglect. Sometimes, needless deaths occur simply because the animals are no longer needed, and the easiest way to dispose of them is to kill

The last major form of treatment in testing labs is the forced infliction of pain. This pain can come in the form of burns and cuts. These experiments are performed in order to get a full understanding of the body’s healing process. The severity of the wounds depend on which phase in the healing process the scientists want to analyze. Individuals will argue that animals have no mental or cognitive capacity, therefore they cannot feel pain or express any type of emotion. This does not make the act of enforcing pain any more humane. It is understandable that these inflictions of pain are merely for scientific purposes but unfortunately, the Animal Welfare Act is not properly administered to ensure that the procedures are humane.