The issue of animal experimentation is a widely debated topic in the United States. A fundamental question of this debate is whether the functions of animal testing and research are morally and ethically justified. In the viewpoint of the pro-research community, animal testing is a necessary practice. They support this position by stating that humans, instinctually, prioritize their own survival above other animals thus making any use of animals justifiable (Fox 5). The supporters of animal testing believe that it is illogical for humans to place anthropocentric values in animals citing that they can not be moral equals to mankind (Fox 3, 6). The animal rights faction holds belief in different viewpoints against the testing of animals in experiments.
In this paper, I have argued that: (1) Killing animals for the sole purpose of testing by humans is an unnatural act. (2) Animals feel fear, pain, and stress while being tested but are unable to communicate these feelings in a spoken language. (3) Animals have rights and humans must protect them from mistreatment and abuse. (4) With advancements in modern science, it is unnecessary to use live animals for experimentation. Therefore, the use of animals for testing purposes and research is morally and ethically wrong.
“Over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused in US labs every year,” (“11 Facts”). These animals do not have the ability to run away or fight back against scientists, who only care about getting the results of the tests and not the actual well being of the animals. The use of animals for medical testing is a process that “... has been used as early as the 300s B.C., when Aristotle would perform experiments on live animals,” (Hajar). During testing, animals are put in small, compact cages and go through experiments that leave them with not just bumps and bruises, but also deep, bloody cuts, large rashes, infections, and sometimes death. Animals should not be used for medical experimentation because it is morally wrong,
Clemmitt, Marcia. "Animal Rights." CQ Researcher by CQ Press. N.p., 10 Jan. 2010. Web. 27
Devlin, Hannah. "Don't Let The Forces Of Unreason Stop Research; Scientists Should Be Braver In Defending Animal Experiments And Open Up Their Labs Series: Editorial; Opinion, Columns." Times of London 7, 07 2013,: n. pag. eLibrary. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
The first and formost subject that appears in animal experimentation is that of morality and humanity. Many wonder why those who commit devastating acts of cruelty on animals for 'research’ are considered respected scientists and not discredited for abuse. Animals in experimentation are not protected under the Animal Welfare Act, and henceforth are not counted as ‘true’ animals; of the hundreds of millions of animals which are brutally burned, crippled, poisoned, or abused each year, only 10% are actually noted as being dead or injured throughout their life. Even those creatures who are under the protection of AWA (Animal Welfare Approved) programs are not required to be replaced by alternatives, and labs that use mice, rats, birds, reptiles, or amphibians are exempt from any minimal protections as well. In many places around the world, such as China, animal testing is mandatory on every product released to the public. How can this be morally correct when numerous studies have found that previously thought "human-unique" characteristics, like episodic memory, non-linguistic mathematical ability, and the mental capacity to navigate using landmarks, have be...
Every year, over two hundred million innocent animals are injured or killed in scientific experiments across the world. Of those animals, between seventeen and twenty million are used in the United States alone. In the United States alone an animal dies in a lab every three seconds. People in favor of animal experimentation say they’re taking animal lives in order to save humans. However is it really necessary to subject animals to painful experiments and torturous conditions in the name of science? Is it right to destroys an animal’s life while testing mascara or shampoo? Animals have their own rights as do humans and we should respect that. Animal experiments do not offer the best results to benefit us humans and it is costly. Animal experimentations should be abolished because it is unethical to destroy an animal’s life.
Animal experimentation is a controversial topic and may what to stop the use of animal in experiments. Experimenting with animals helps save human life but innocents animal pay the consequences. The "pro" and "con" positions on animal experimentation have proven suitable for stating extreme opinions, but unhelpful at exploring the broader ethical questions of animal based research (Wolff, 2009). Human and animals are very similar, for scientific is easy to use animals to find cures for humans decease. It difficult to scarified innocent animals but those animals help human to continue living. While there are multiple accusations of animal cruelty, few people actually witness the inner workings of a research lab and multiple regulations prevent animal cruelty, but animal research still continues to cause pain (Wolff, 2009). The use of animals in experiment is fundamental for human descendent.
In the twenty first century, we have so many other alternatives besides continuing to burn, shock, poison, starve, and kill over 100 million animals to test new household products and medicines when it has been proved that animal testing is an ineffective way to cure illnesses and improve human life. Animals do not suffer the same illnesses as humans do and injecting them into animals and studying the effects delays our time to further understand the sickness on an actual human. Seeing that an animals’ genetic makeup is much different from a humans then certain medicines that work on animals more often than not are not effective on humans. Therefore, results are often very misleading. “Animals are fed harmful substances, infected with lethal viruses, subjected to brain damage, heart attacks, strokes, and cancers”(“What’s Wrong With…”). Through a humane perspective, the murder of millions of animals is a disturbing thought to hold. As a country, we continue to remain oblivious to what continues to go on behind laboratory doors for cosmetic, medical, and industrial purposes.
Research on animals is deemed necessary to develop vaccines, treatments, and cures for diseases and to ensure that new products are safe for humans to use. “The development of immunization against such diseases as polio, diphtheria, mumps, measles, rubella, pertussis, and hepatitis all involved research on animals […]” (AMPEF 1). Scientists have found many drugs by means of animal experimentation. To some people, animals are viewed as better test subjects than anything else. Scientists can control many aspects in an animal’s life such as their diet, the temperature, lighting, environment, and more. Animals are biologically similar, but not identical to humans and can form some of the same health problems. When these health problems are injected into an animal it can have the same physical reactions as a human could.
For hundreds of thousands of years animals have been used to further the knowledge in medical research and technology. The first recorded use of animals in experimentation was in 450 B.C.E. when Alcmaeon Croton severed the optic nerve of a dog and blindness resulted (Von Stein). Experiments continued as Greek and Roman civilization continued to develop. Around the fifth century during the Dark Ages and the Fall of Rome, animal experimentation began to disappear in Europe. It was during the Italian Renaissance when experimentation revived again with technological advances (Von Stein). Experimentation of this time was considered cruel and barbaric since anesthesia has not yet been created and animals were not given anything to ease the pain. Still since animals shared physiological and genetic characteristics wit...
HOPES. 2010. Animal Research: The Ethics of Animal Experimentation. [online] Available at: http://www.stanford.edu/group/hopes/cgi-bin/wordpress/2010/07/animal-research/ [Accessed: 18 Nov 2013].
In the early twenty-first century, virtually all medical therapies, drugs, vaccines, surgical techniques and prosthetics – were developed with the aid of animal subjects (Fellenz 22). One of the difficulties is that very few people have direct experience of what actually goes on in animal labs. There is no assurance of relying on second-hand information. “Vaccine research requires infecting animals with some very nasty conditions like testing the efficacy of painkillers; drugs, antibiotics, and etc. are obvious examples” (Wolff). Wolff explains that animals must first be injected with a common disease to test if a painkiller has any effect or not. Many examples throughout history can depict how cruel animal experimentation has been. Although humans may benefit from animal experimentation, animals deserve the equality and right to live as all humans do.