Should Animals Be Used for Testing Purposes?
Testing on animals has always been a controversy often debated. Millions of animals are tested on each year to aid in the research and development of commercial and scientific products. Animals get tested on to ensure the safety of human use or consumption in anything from beauty products to medicine. Testing has enabled life-saving advancements in medicine; however it is no longer necessary to harm animals in the process of saving humans. Animal testing should be deemed unethical and illegal for several reasons. There are alternatives to animal testing which eliminates the need for animals to suffer any longer. New found studies show how much distress animals actually go through during the testing period. Current laws and regulations against animal testing aren’t strict enough and have no protected animals from physical and psychological harm. Animal activists have argued for decades against the cruel and inhumane mistreatment of animals and it is time that animal testing is put to a stop.
An estimated 50-100 million animals are used in experimentation each year. The term animal experimentation is used to describe an animal that is testing the safety of products, devices and medicines. Animal testing has been around for decades and it is no doubt that they have saved millions of lives when we did not have such advancements in technology. In this day in age, modern technology has enabled us to find alternatives to animal testing.
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.
Many people often oversee the effects of animal testing. This has been going on for decades and many are unaware of the results and the damages animal testing can cause. Animals undergo a lot of stress and pain when they are put through experimentations. Many have debated that it is unethical to test on animals while others say it helps to protect the safety of humans. In my opinion, animal testing is cruel and should be made illegal. Their lives are just as important as human lives and should not be treated as experimental animals. The system of an animal differs from the human system, therefore even if a tested product did not harm the animal, it may or may not be harmful to humans. Hence, our body system reactions differ from the bodies of an animal. It has been scientifically proven that 90% of the animals being tested in labs results in death while only a handful of animal experiments are successful. There are multiple alternative methods rather than forcefully harming innocent animals. I will explore how animal testing can affect the health of the animals and if there is possibly a better alternative rather than testing on animals.
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.
In discussion of animal rights, one controversial issue has been whether or not animals should be use for medical testing. On the one hand, some scientists argue that animal testing has contributed for many cures and treatments. On the other hand, animal rights activist contends that alternative methods now exist that can replace the need for animals. Others even maintain that animal testing is an essential part in medical research. My own view is that animals should not be used in medical testing because is no longer necessary now there are methods that are safer and have better results than animals do.
Throughout history, animal testing has played an important role in leading to new discoveries and human benefit. However, what many people forget are the great numbers of animals that have suffered serious harm during the process of animal testing. Animal testing is the use of animals in biological, medical, and psychological studies. The development and enhancement of medical research has been based on the testing of animals. There are many questions being asked if animal research is good or not or if the benefit for us is way greater the abuse of animals. Doing tests on animals can help find ways to cure diseases, but testing on them is wrong. Although we want to find cures for diseases to help many people, testing on animals not only
For many years, the field of science has used animals in medical experiments worldwide, because of this innocent animals are being killed everyday. They are being tested with new drugs, new treatments, and by many makeup companies. Connecticut recently celebrated the passage of the “Beagle Freedom Law”, a law that requires laboratories to work with charities and rescue groups to find homes for research cats and dogs. Animals are being tested so humans do not have to be but animal tests do not reliably predict results in human beings, although animals are the closest thing to humans. Most experiments involving animals are flawed, wasting the lives of innocent animal subjects. Over 100 million animals suffer a year from testing. Testing animals is a lot more expensive than alternative methods and it is wasting government research dollars. Animal testing is not only a bad idea, but it is also inhuman and it should not be tolerated. The FDA should stop allowing animal testing. An animal does not give out the same results on a test than a human would.
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.
The harmful use of animals in experiments is not only cruel and inhumane but also often ineffective. Animals do not get many of the human diseases that people do, such as major types of heart disease, many types of cancer, HIV, Parkinson’s disease, or schizophrenia. There have been past occasions where drugs passed on animals weren’t even safe. There is no excuse for animal testing in today’s techy world, there are now many alternatives for animal testing that would put an end to the pain and suffering endured by these innocent animals during human testing.
Animals can be ferocious and wild, but they can also be gentle and tame. Some are our pets, and some are powerful forces that are to be respected and admired. It is as easy to appreciate a loyal dog as it is to be in awe of a lion in its' natural habitat. But the truth that many people either don’t know or don’t appreciate is that animals are essential to human existence and have played a vital role in improving the quality of our lives. They have been providing us with answers to our most complex medical questions for decades. Their role in finding cures for diseases, treatments for illness, and product safety is immense. First, we will examine how animal testing has
The term “animal testing” refers to procedures performed on animals for the benefit of humans. An estimated 25 million animals are tested on each year in the United States for scientific and commercial testing. It is used for biomedical research, medical usage, behavioral research, cosmetics, and the list goes on. Research on living animals has been practiced since at least 500 B.C. Many argue that animal testing is necessary for research, but with the medical technology we have today, this has been proven incorrect. The cost of animal testing is hundreds of thousands per year in the U.S. Animal testing is cruel and should not be allowed because it is abusive, expensive, and there are substitutes.
For thousands of years animals have been used as research subjects, but with the advancement of science and society, animal experimentation has morphed into a controversial bioethics topic. Animal experimentation is the use of animals in scientific research. This experimentation ranges from testing pharmaceuticals on rats to measuring the elasticity of tendons in rabbits to implanting mechanical devices in calves. And while the FDA has dozens of guidelines to keep animal testing as ethical as possible, a strong opposition to animal research (particularly mammalian research) still exists.
Animal testing is a secret most companies don’t like to share. It is a global problem that needs to be put to an end. The use of animal testing is used in medicine, cosmetics and for educational purposes and it is immoral and unnecessary when we have advanced technologies that can replace these harmful methods.
Humanity has a lоng histоry оf exрerimentatiоn оn animals, esрecially in the medicаl and соsmetic рrоfessions. Many рeорle argue that humanity wоuld nоt be where it is tоday if it were nоt fоr its reliance оn animal exрerimentаtiоn. It is nigh untо imроssible tо deny that animal testing has ever been useful, althоugh the argument соuld certainly be made that such a methоd was nоt always necessary. Hоwever, with advancements in medical and scientific technolоgy, animal testing is nо lоnger a mоrally defensible рractice.
However, sometimes, in some cases, it is possible to develop a new way of conducting a test involving few animals. They are as following: