Animal Testing Persuasive Essay

Vivisection is the practice of performing procedures on live animals for the purpose of experimentation or scientific research. A popular controversy in today’s society is whether or not animals should be tested for purposes of human-based research. This research can determine the results of new products, test human health and evaluate the safety of consumer and industry products (Humane). These experiments are irrelevant to humans. Animals should not have to suffer for the benefits of mankind. Vivisection is cruel and inhumane, poorly predictive of human outcomes and is not the only method available to discover possible repercussions. Vivisection is barbaric and is inessential for the progression of human life.
Firstly, animal experimentation is brazen and ruthless. Animals in labs live their whole lives in imprisonment. They live in barren enclosures, unable to have free will, make choices, or express their natural behaviors and needs. They are subjected to invasive experiments that range from uncomfortable to agonizing, helpless to defend themselves. According to the Humane Society International, “animals used in experiments are commonly subjected to force feeding, forced inhalation, food and water deprivation, prolonged

periods of physical restraint, the infliction of burns and other wounds to study the healing process and the infliction of pain to study its effect and remedies” (ProCon). Using animals for scientific testing in ways that cause distress and, often times, death is remorseless.
Secondly, alternative methods exist that can take the place of lab animals.

One alternative method is vitro testing, experiments that occur in glass, such as test tubes. Vitro provides more accurate results and will produce more effective products than vivisection because human cells can be used (ProCon). Attempting to reflect human effects in animals contains limitations that cannot be overcome. The Humane Society International revealed that “nine out of every ten candidate medicines that appear safe and effective in animal studies fail when given to humans.” Animals rarely suffer from the same conditions as humans (Humane). Alternative methods offer more reliable outcomes and in turn, saves the lives of tens of millions of innocent

animals.
Lastly, some people say that animal research is highly regulated. They claim that the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) protects lab animals by placing laws and guidelines that all researchers have to obey. However, this is a false assertion. The AWA sets standards for their housing, feeding and handling. They do not place regulations on the amount of pain or distress the procedures might cause (NEAVS “Animals”). 95% of lab animals are excluded from the “protection” given by the AWA, which leaves them extremely susceptible to mistreatment and abuse (ProCon). In fact, in 2009 “the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) found 338 possible violations of the Animal Welfare Act at the federally funded New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) in Louisiana. Some of the primates housed at NIRC were suffering such severe psychological stress that they engaged in self-mutilation” (ProCon). This is just one example of the countless barbaric actions that are acted out against these defenseless animals.
In conclusion, vivisection is an imprudent and unnecessary way to find treatments for human diseases and test the safety of drugs and other biological products. Animals in labs experience constant suffering. These torturous procedures still occur even though, there are substitute methods that exist and contrary to a popular belief, most animals tested in laboratories are not protected by the Animal Welfare Act. These animals are discriminated against because they do not have the advanced cognitive ability or high-minded judgment as humans (ProCon). The harm and suffering of these helpless animals needs to be brought to an end.