Should Animal Testing Be Used In Scientific Research?

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.

Approximately 26 million animals are used every year in the United States alone for research and commercial testing (“Background of the Issue” 1). For years, legislators have debated the pros and cons of animal testing, and laws were passed to attempt to fix the inhumane treatment of the cute, innocent testing subjects, the animals. Although the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) was revised numerous times, “the species most commonly used in experiments (mice, rats, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians) comprise 99% of all animals in laboratories” and are the animals that are specifically exempted from protection under the act (“Experiments on Animals” 2). A simple fix to animal cruelty during testing is to use alternative methods since human and animal bodies already vary greatly. For years, animal testing was the best option because there was no alternative to testing on a living, whole-body system; however, in the age of technology, there is no reason for millions of animals to be killed due to the severity of the testing. Therefore, animal testing should be banned because alternative methods provide more accurate results since human bodies are very different than animal bodies; furthermore, animal advocacy organizations should promote cruelty-free products more so customers know what to purchase and use.

Is Animal testing necessary? Yes or No? Animal testing in the space race was necessary because they needed to know if humans would be able to survive in space. A dog did go to space to orbit earth but, the dog did indeed die. They did find out what went wrong. In my opinion animal testing was sometimes necessary.

Animal testing has contributed to many life-saving cures, treatments, and major advances in understanding and treating conditions such as breast cancer, childhood leukemia, brain injuries, cystic fibrosis, malaria, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, and many others, and was instrumental in the development of pacemakers, cardiac valve substitutes, and anesthetics. Using animals as research subjects is appropriate because they are similar to human beings in many ways.

To support or not support animal testing practices has been a long debated topic. Animals have been used in medical and cosmetic tests since the 1900s leading to numerous medical treatment breakthroughs and ensuring the safety of everyday products we use. Recently animal advocate groups have called for the abolishment of animal testing, causing a divide on whether or not to continue animal testing. In order to keep innovating new solutions for diseases that plague our communities and loved ones, allowing the use of animal testing to end preventable tragedies must occur.

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.

The issue of animal testing is a widespread and very controversial topic. It entails carrying out torturous and harmful tests and experiments on animals (most commonly mice or rats, but also other animals like rabbits and guinea pigs) for scientific research, whether it be for medical causes, products or cosmetics. In many cases, animal testing is unavoidable – it is impossible to rid the world of something humans rely on so dearly; however, it is imperative that we recognize the moral impacts of our actions and stop relying on it as a major research tactic. It is quite odd that it continues to be commonly used, despite being largely ineffective, the abundance of alternatives available, and the moral issues it brings into light.

Animal testing has become a controversial issue among many people in the world today. Some of these people involved in this controversial debate believe that animal testing is unethical and should be replaced by other methods. The other group of people in this debate believe that animal testing is necessary in order to research new products that cannot be tested on humans. Traditional animal testing forces animals to undergo numerous experiments for different forms of research. Medical, cosmetic, and many other types of research experiments use animals to provide the results on how the new product may affect humans. There are many people that support the use of alternative methods to animal research and then

“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).

Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, is the use of animals in research and development projects, usually for the purposes of determining the safety of substances such as food, cosmetics, and drugs. Research animals undergo procedures that can cause physical and psychological distress. Mostly, the animals are euthanized, or killed, after the experiments. However, many organizations such as PETA and the Animal Justice Project have brought up, and are fighting against the dangerous outcomes of animals as they undergo testing. As a result, the topic of animal testing has become a divided and controversial topic among individuals, questioning whether it is ethical and unnecessary or humane and necessary to the science development.

Animal testing is a controversial subject but in the end, it is unreliable, cruel, and unjustified.

According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or more commonly known as PETA, “each year, more than 100 million animals – including mice, rats, frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys, fish and birds – are killed in U.S. laboratories for chemical, drug, food, and cosmetic testing; biology lessons; medical training; and curiosity-driven experimentation” (76). Not only is it clear the number of animals killed per year is extremely large, but also the number of uses, compared to their uses in the past, have expanded widely and are now being used for testing a large variety of things. We also now have statistics that show most people fund animal testing without even realizing it. Animal testing is funded in many ways which include “taxes, charitable donations, purchases of lottery tickets and consumer products” (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals 79). This is bad in many ways because people are never told this and by taking apart of these things they are encouraging and helping fund the use of animal testing. According to the People for the Ethical Treatments of Animals, in 2009 the U.S. National Institutes of Health “budgeted nearly $29 billion for research and development” (79). Instead of wasting money on this scientific testing, we should be funding research for non-invasive and less harmful methods.

Working Thesis: Animal testing continues to be a problem in America, affecting animals and humans through toxic, unnecessary experiments that can easily be avoided through alternative procedures. Berry, Colin. " Hazardous Products: Cut Animal Wastage in Toxicology Testing. " Nature, vol. 523, no. 7561, 23 July 2015, p. 410.

In the field of scientific research, animal subjects have become a primary source of medical testing. Investigating the effects of these procedures and chemical experiments to generate evidential conclusions is widely disputed by opposing audiences today. Advocates propose the necessity of animal usage in scientific testing for the advancement of human welfare, while critics argue on behalf of the rights available to such animals used in these procedures. Despite the controversial debates and publications written about this topic, the harsh realities of its practice continue to linger. A statistic often supplemented to the context of this issue, reported by the nonprofit organization PETA, says “More than 100

Observation and experimentation are how we as humans have been able to learn more about ourselves and the world and universe we live in. One of the most common methods of experimentation is animal testing. However, there are controversies surrounding animal testing. There are some that believe animal testing to be cruel and overdone, advocating for the eradication of the practice and further reliance alternative research methods. Groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other animal rights advocates fall in this category. There are some that believe animal testing to be an invaluable resource and should continue, such as some scientists and research groups. However, there appears to me to be a consensus that is closer to the middle: the belief and understanding that while there are benefits to animal testing, there are flaws in the practice and there should be changes to increase its efficacy while we simultaneously explore alternate testing methods. Many scientists and the National Institute of Health (NIH) subscribe to this idea. I aim to explore the benefits, problems, and implications of animal testing in order to reach a more informed conclusion about a position that is most validated by the information I have used.