Animal Rights: Do They Deserve Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?

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Do animals deserve the natural rights humans have? Animals are being kept captive in science labs to test many things. In research labs they are used to test many trivial products and they are used in valuable medical research. Many animal right activists go as far as breaking the law as an attempt to get the point across about the wellbeing of animals in science labs. The welfare of animals should be considered in experiments, although they are a substantial benefit to medical research there should still be strict enforced regulations set to stop the unnecessary pain and suffering of the animals. There are many animal rights activist groups asking that an animal’s life be seen just as valuable as the life of a human. Having “natural rights” for animals defined would mean imprisoning and holding trials for animals that break the law, realistically this is not a defensible philosophy. According to Lee and Ames natural rights for animals is a “flawed philosophy” that contradicts itself. The concept of natural rights for animals would jeopardize all medical research. Animals in the laboratory are mostly used for biomedical research, education and product safety testing. Saraf and Kumarawamy note that almost every medical achievement in this century depended on the use of animals in some way (6). Animal experiments have provided the knowledge necessary to comprehend and develop more effective treatments, but “the opposition to use animals for research purpose has always existed” (Saraf and Kurmarawamy 8). Rabbits were used in the early 1920s as a pregnancy test, because high levels of hCG if injected into a female rabbit caused death, this experiment contributed to the development of the at home pregnancy tests that ar... ... middle of paper ... ...ss normal behavior, Freedom from fear and distress. Works Cited "Animal experimentation – the facts." BBC News. BBC, 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. Favre, David. "Overview of U.S. Animal Welfare Act." Animallaw.info. Michigan State University College of Law, May-June 2002. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Lee, M. Cushmaan, C. Ames. “Counterpoint: Animals Do Not Have Rights.” Point Of View: Animal Rights (2013): 3. Point of View Reference Center. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. Ranganatha, N., and I.J. Kuppast. “A Review On Alternatives To Animal Testing Methods In Drug Development.” International Journal Of Pharmaceutical Sciences 4. (2012): 28-32. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2013. Saraf, Shyam K., and Vinay Kumarawamy. “Basic Research: Issues With Animal Experimentations.” Indian Journal of Orthopedics 47.1 (2013): 6-9. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.

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