The Pros And Cons Of Animal Experimentation

For years, scientists have experimented with animals to study how diseases and disabilities affect them. Take neurologist Thomas Gennarelli for example. Dr. Thomas Gennarelli used primates as test subjects. For a little bit over 15 years, he bashed primates to imitate head injuries in human beings. He believed the results of his experiments would be beneficial in the future on how we should treat head injuries. The team that worked for him recorded the data via videotapes. Unfortunately, as much as he tried, Thomas Gennarelli flopped and could not create duplicate head injuries. In 1984, participants of the Animal Liberation Front broke into the University of Pennsylvania’s Medical school and swindled the tapes that’s withheld the data from the experiments. They edited the tapes to show the most gruesome abuses of the primates and submitted it to People for Ethical Treatments of Animals. Peta then submitted it to Congress and the media. Participants of these experiments claimed they appease the primates with drugs, so they would feel not pain. The videotapes told a different story. Just before the hammer smashed their heads, the primates tried to escape. The researchers used foul language and performed unsanitary procedures upon the primates. They mocked and chuckled at attentive primates with broken arms. The National Institutes of Health analyzed the videotapes. Thomas Gennarelli was condemned of 9 charges such as unacceptable veterinary care and lack of guidance for the

Animal testing can go from good thing to a terrible thing in a matter of seconds. Animal testing dates to ancient Greece in 300 B.C. Greek philosophers and scientists practiced on animals to find scientific solutions and medical cures. The benefits of animal testing include pacemakers for heart disease, vaccines, and treating conditions such as a brain injury. However, the downside of animal testing is that it is cruel to the animals, can have misleading results, and ninety-five percent of animals are not protected by the Animal Welfare Act. Also, breakthrough results have been made without animals and alternative animal testing is cheaper than using animals for experimentation.

There are over 26 million different types of animal being tested on for research each year in the United States. Animals are used for testing every year for human research. Different animals go through serious pain, in order for humans to facilitate growth in different fields of study. Many animals are used in order to study diseases and potential cures for the diseases. New research chemicals are tested on animals with similar structures to humans, to see if the medicine can help with certain diseases. Tons of scientific advancement has taken place because of animal testing. Without animal testing, many diseases would still exist, without a safe way to test for potential cures. The issue at hand is the type of treatment that animals have to endure because of the different testing methods. They are treated very poorly, go through intense suffering, and normally have very poor living conditions. A pro to animal testing is that many cures and different medicines have been developed through animal testing. Without animal testing, many diseases would still exist without cures. Secondly, animals have a much shorter life span than humans do, so scientists can study the results through the whole life span of the animal. With humans, it is hard to do a full test because we have such high lifespans, while animals tend to live a lot less longer. Thirdly, many animals have been saved because of animal testing. Many diseases animals deal with now have vaccines and cures, as a result of animal testing. Without it, many animals would have rabies or other types of virus that can be detrimental to the animal’s health. On the contrary, a con to animal testing would be the pain many animals go through as a result of the testing. The tests are experimental, so we don’t know exactly what the chemical drug will do to the animal. Many cases have turned bad and many animals have died as a result, or gone through extensive pain. Next, there are many alternative methods of experimental testing that doesn’t require animals. As a result, why are we still using animals for testing when there are other ways to do it. Finally, animals are different from humans, so they make poor testing subjects. We can’t know for sure how the research

The testing of animals in scientific and commercial research has been debated for many years. Some people view animals as companions or part of the family, but others think of them as a way to advance medicine by providing researchers with a means to develop better medical techniques, discovering vaccines, and helping to find a cure for a disease. Regardless of how a person may view animals, they are worthy of better protection by our government and us as a society. Although some animal testing has been successful, there are research alternatives that could eliminate the pain, suffering, and deaths that animals endure in scientific research. Therefore, animals should not be used in scientific research

Through testing with animal research scientist have been able to create new cures and treat once thought incurable diseases. Many biomedical experiments developed treatments for anthrax, rabies, polio and smallpox, as well as developed anti-depressants, tranquilizers and antibiotics for medical use. Advocates of the opposition are hardly reasonable as their opinions are adjusted purely for emotional value. Their main argument is the fact that animal testing harms

Proponents of animal testing: say that animal testing is a life-saving and there is no alternative method of research also that strict regulations will help the abuse of animals in the laboratories. The California Biomedical Research Association claims that every breakthrough medical research in the last hundred years is a direct result of the use of animals. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, was diagnosed with polio in 1921. With the animal testing researchers have reduced the global occurrence form 350,000 cases in 1988 to 27 cases in 2016.

In 2014 a group organization called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) noted that more than 100 million animals are harmed or killed during animal testing. Animal testing is cruel and inhumane. Animals are being used for medical testing, but are not being cared for before, during, or after testing. Animals and humans are very similar, in that we have the same organ system which performs the same tasks in a similar fashion. Even though animals and humans share comparable DNA, we fail to see the similarities in physical and emotional pain that animals endure during testing. Subjecting even one animal to that type of cruelty, all in the name of science is one too many.

These experiments are the direct cause of massive suffering of millions of animals. The most common animals used in these invasive procedures are “17,896 dogs, 3,713 cats, 358,213 rabbits, 6,686 horses, 6,095 monkeys…over 1,000,000 fish and over 8,500,000 rodents”(“Facts and Figures on animal testing”). In fact, in most of these animals, diseases that affect humans are not even prevalent in animals, such as major types of heart diseases, different cancers, HIV and more (“Arguments against animal testing”, n.d). These diseases are artificially introduced to the animal’s immune system, in an attempt to mimic human diseases. The fact that animals cannot get said diseases, greatly affects the outcome in humans (“Arguments against animal testing”, n.d).

Over one hundred million animals every year die from animal testing, in the medical and cosmetic fields alone (“Experiments on Animals: Overview”). Animal testing is as big of a problem today as it has been in the past. Most people do not agree with animal testing today but years ago it was one of the only ways of testing. It was considered, if not the only, effective and efficient ways of testing a product’s toxicity. To date, animal testing is not warranted because of the development of new technology and past discoveries. Many organizations and brands publicly oppose animal testing. The companies that stand against animal testing are broad and diverse, ranging from medical to cosmetic testing, advocating that at its core, this issue is

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,

Every year, thousands of animals are forced to undergo multiple experiments and procedures in laboratories for the sake of testing new products or for scientific purposes. Some issues that are in support of testing on lab animals include its contribution to many life-saving cures and treatments, allows to test on a living body system, are appropriate research subjects due to their similarity to human subjects, animals do not have human rights, allows for human products to be tested for safety, religious beliefs that entitle humans to have dominion over all animals, and this method of testing is a small price to pay for advancing medical progress. According to a study done by the California Biomedical Research Association, “…nearly every medical breakthrough in the last 100 years has resulted directly from research using animals. We have made significant progress against diseases such as polio, smallpox, cancer, heart diseases, and diabetes among many, thanks to animals.” Allowing scientists to do their lab research on animals enables them to explore new ways to cure diseases or develop safer products for humans to use. Some values that are in support of animal testing include safety, quality of life, education, and health.

¨Should animals be used for experimentation¨ is a question that has been floating around since the 1960s. This is an argument that has been going on for 50 years because of moral beliefs, medical reasons, and personal experiences. All of these factor in deciding whether we are for or against animal testing. There are laboratories and biomedical research groups that promote animal testing, while organizations like P.E.T.A (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) discourage animal testing. In 2013, a poll was conducted about if animal research was morally wrong or right. The poll resulted in 56% Americans morally approving it and 39% saying it was wrong (Procon, 2017).

Although animal testing has some negatives, it also has some positives. The association, Americans for Medical Processes has stated that “animal-based research has contributed to significant improvement in the length and quality of our lives.” One of the ways in which animal testing has assisted humans is in the treatment of cancer. Due to animal based research, scientists were able to discover new molecular and genetic understandings of tumor biology. This knowledge has lead to treatments that help solve the problem of cancer. Another way in which animal testing has helped humans is in HIV/AIDS. Although there is not a cure for the disease yet, animal testings have helped scientists make custom drugs with less side effects. Also, the knowledge

Animals go through experiments for human gain; therefore, the groups of people that love animals are taking up for them because the creatures do not have a voice of their own. Today in animal experimentation approximately 50 to 100 animals worldwide undergo experimentation each year (Driscoll). When animals are being experimented on they let out loud cries and the scientist can sit their and their heart not melt it is cruel and inhumane. The scientist do not care what happens to the animals, but if it was their animals they would probably cry because animals help humans in everyday life and all humans do is hurt them. The animals in labs get toxic substances put in their eyes and are forced to inhale. Also, animals in labs get addicted to the

Things animals endure while being a test subject includes: force feeding, forced inhalation, food and water deprivation, physical restraint for periods of times, infliction of burns and other wounds. Research facilities do not care if the animal is in pain and they don’t take time to give them anesthesia. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2010; 91,123 animals suffered pain caused by experimentations (ProCon.org). There is a certain act called the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) that is supposed to protect animals from cruel experiments, but the act only covers 5% of the animals. The AWA does not cover rats, mice, fish, and birds (HR and Beck). Testing that consists of rubbing chemical on shaved skin or dripping in the eyes can cause blindness, sores, bleeding, and death of animals. Even if the animal survives after the experiment the animal is killed (Motivans). Animal testing is altogether cruel and inhumane. Animals have to be tested against their own will. For example, when executing an eye irritation test, “the animal [a rabbit] is held firmly but gently until quiet. The test material is placed in one eye of each animal by gently pulling the lower lid away from the eyeball to