The Pros and Cons of Animal Testing

You know those medicines that you can get at the Drug Store? Don’t you think that is the greatest medicine for headaches or allergy relief? Well, it was most likely tested on an animal and it could have killed them. Over 100 million animals are injured in a wide variety of ways in the U.S. alone . Some animals spend their entire lives in captivity constantly getting tortured or abused. Also, it has been proven that only 50% of the time animal testing also works on humans, so while we tested on animals and it worked for animals, you might as well flip a coin as to whether it will benefit people.

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.

Animals do not suffer from the same diseases that us humans have, for example curing heart failure induced by cutting a dogs aorta will not help to cure heart failure caused by a build-up of cholesterol in human arteries. We waste animal lives everyday and for what? The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has noted that 92 percent of all drugs that are shown to be safe and effective in animal tests fail in human trials because they don’t work or are dangerous. And of the small percentage of drugs approved for human use, half end up being relabeled because of side effects that were not identified in tests on animals. This makes it extremely dangerous to humans, because animal testing is not dependable, it can cause serious side effects to humans that weren’t an issue to the animals during testing.

Tests that pass animals can have major effects on human’s population. In the UK 70,000 people die or are severely disabled by medical drugs that have passed animal tests(33 Reasons Why). This can show how unreliable it is and why it would not be good to use medicine that is not tested on humans. In America 106,000 people die from medical drugs (33 Reasons Why). This shows that more people in America trust this type of medication. Not only this but treatment tortures and kills animals, they can not only ruin human population but animal’s too.

Despite controversy over animal testing, according to statistics conducted by the Foundation for Biomedical Research, roughly 95% of all lab animals are some strain of mouse or rat. () Scientific researchers rely on mice and rats for several reasons, one being convenience. Rodents are small, easily housed and maintained, and adapt well to new surroundings. They also reproduce quickly and have a short lifespan of two to three years, allowing several generations to be observed in a relatively short period of time. Another reason laboratories use rats is in order to obtain genetic purity and consistency; rodents raised for animal testing can be bred so that they are almost genetically identical to prevent any bias in experimental results (Iannaccone & Jacob, 2009). What makes rats most

Animal testing is used in the first phases of scientific research to protect human subjects from the unknown adverse effects of investigational drugs and materials. For example, animals are used to test the biological reaction of organic tissues to new medical devices. Animal testing is also used to determine the toxicity level and adverse reactions to investigational drugs and vaccines. Furthermore, animal testing is crucial to establishing the therapeutic value of the research drugs and devices, before they are used in human subjects (Food and Drug Administration; November 8, 2017). Opponents

Animals should be treated with respect, their lives are more than determining if a lipstick will be a the next big thing, or being torn apart for a worthless experiment. Especially since most laws are not required to keep animals safe, millions of animals are dying, with a great deal of species involved. Yet, scientists, companies, and researchers continue to think animals will be the solution to human illnesses, even though the relation between the two are dissimilar. The percentage of drugs tested on animals is excessively high for failure, and does not persist onto men, women or

According to the National Institutes of Health, animal testing has been around since the days of philosopher Aristotle. According to ProCon.org, there are an estimated 26 million animals used for scientific and commercial testing in the U.S. alone. Animal testing has brought many good things to the medical world, such as the treatment various disease. Also, the animal is being tested by many cosmetics companies. On the other hand, organizations like PETA- People of Ethical Treatment of Animals have fought against the medical testing of animals. There are pros and cons that come with the usage of animals in the biomedical and cosmetic testing, and each side needs should be carefully examined before deciding one way or another.

To start, animal testing should be banned because it is not fully accurate for research. Since the testing is used for human benefits, it supposed to predict the result for humans. However, studies show that “ Animal testing does not fully and accurately predict the result in humans compared to animals” (ProCon Organization). So, there is really no practical reason for the testing if it cannot even accurately help to anticipate what the results will be if the product will go out to the public. It could cause danger not only to the animals who are being evaluated on, but it could harm humans as well if the product isn’t safe. Following on that criticism the premise that because animals are in an unnatural environment, they will be under stress. Therefore , that can cause the not wanted reaction to the product. It is hard to get the accurate results for the products if the aniey won't react to the drugs in the same way compared to their potential reach out (Animal Testing). Since the animals are being abused with chemicals, are forced to survive, tion in

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).

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).

Before a particular medicine or treatment is offered for human use, there are tested by scientist in animals to see their effectiveness. There are positive sides of animal testing.

According to Ian Murnaghan, “many medical treatments have made possible by animal testing, it helped researchers find drugs and treatment to improve health and medicine, including cancer, and HIV drugs, insulin, antibiotics, vaccines and much more.” (Murnaghan) The essence of Murnaghan’s argument is that animal testing makes a huge impact on human health and medicine. By focusing on the pros of animal testing, Munaghan overlooks the deeper problem of experimental testing on animals. The most efficient way to see how a disease works in a human is to watch their progress over time called clinical observation. Scientist can direct the problem easily since it relates to humans. This has also been one of the most useful tools in curing

The use of animals in experiments at leading federally-funded labs has increased nearly seventy three percent in the past fifteen years, according to a new study conducted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) (Casey). Animal testing helps to produce many vaccines and other drugs, such as penicillin, saving many human lives . On the other hand, animal testing causes lots of pain and kills a large amount of animals used during the researches that many people oppose this practice. In this case labs that use mice, rats, birds, reptiles and amphibians are exempted from the minimal protections under the Animal Welfare Act. Although some may think using animals as test subjects is beneficial to humans, in fact, it is cruel to the animals and there are other alternatives.