The Ethical Of Animal Testing: The Ethics Of Animal Testing

The Ethics of Animal Testing

Animals have always held a very special place in the hearts of the human race. They are our best friends, our stress relievers, members of our families, and our test subjects for experimentation. For hundreds of years, animals have been used in laboratory settings as a replacement for humans when studying the effects of medical treatments. On average, nearly one hundred million animals are used in clinical trials every year (Ferdowsian). These animals have contributed to hundreds of breakthroughs in the medical field including countless toxicity tests to determine drug toxicity to humans, and exposure to paralyzing anesthetics to create anesthesia used in surgical procedures today. These animals have been vital

In the past, experiments done on animals were gruesome and clearly inhumane. In 1678, Robert Hook surgically opened the chest of a dog and kept it alive by giving it breaths artificially. This experiment helped Hook prove that chest movements are not the fundamentals of respiration (Goyal). In another experiment, Carl Koller applied cocaine crystals to the eyes of a dog and observed through pricking the eyes with a needle, that the crystals numbed the eyes of the dog. This experiment helped Koller discover an anesthetic used in eye surgery. In the past, scientific understanding of how animals perceive pain was not as advanced as it is today. Alan Carter wrote about the treatment of animals during animal experimentation and reported that experimenters in the seventeenth century “administered beatings to dogs… and made fun of those who pitied the animals as if they could feel pain.” Animal experimentation was once gruesome and brutal, and even though steps have been taken to make testing more humane to animals, most experiments still harm animals in some

One of these claims is that animal testing uses the three R’s in order to make testing more humane. These three R’s are reduction, refinement and replacement, meaning that scientists must attempt to reduce doses administered to test animals, refine experiments to make them more humane and try to replace animals altogether. If this method was always used, animal testing would be humane and ethical, but the three R’s are often neglected because the research results are viewed as being more important than the animals. Another claim that animal testing is ethical, is that animal testing has always been essential to medical breakthroughs. Although animals have served as important models for breakthroughs in drugs and medical procedures in the past, modern technology allows us to use more accurate models for testing such as cell structures. The final claim many people make is that animals are not able to feel pain anyway, so testing them does not matter. If an individual has ever observed a dog even step on a sticker and have it caught in their paw, they have seen an animal whimper and cry while hopping on three legs to try to stop the pain. It is a simple and minuscule pain, but animals feel it, so they will feel any pain involved in animal testing as well. Animals should be replaced in