Benefits Of Xenotransplantation

Animal rights pertain to the right to live untampered with and free. This is not to be confused with believing animals are of an equal status with humans; however, they do deserve to be given the luxury to live freely as humans do. Killing and experimenting on animals by taking their fur for clothing, flesh for food, and lives for entertainment or research strips the animal of its dignity and happiness. To refute the popular belief that animals do not feel and understand in the way a human does, suffering is a universal feeling that all living creatures feel. Laws put in place to protect animals are only significant for protecting from unnecessary uses. Therefore, as long as a situation is presented the plan may be carried out. Animals are

used for various purposes with “17 million to 100 million animals … still [being] used in laboratories”(CBS News 1). Despite the belief that animals are not deserving of natural rights, animal rights need to be strengthened due to the cruel and inhumane lifestyle they endure.
Animal rights have been presented to the public through organizations who fund, petition, and inform the people about their cause. One organization is Cruelty Free International who works with makeup companies to ensure no animals are harmed or used in the making of a makeup product. Various countries have put regulations prohibiting the use of animals as a means to test the toxicity of a product. Others have put strict laws enforcing animal testing must be performed prior to releasing a product to the public. For example, in China all beauty products must undergo specific tests ensuring the product will not cause any irritations. Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of harming animals in laboratories. To be sure that no animals were harmed in the making of a beauty product Cruelty Free International raises awareness by sponsoring the leaping bunny logo that can be found on the back of cruelty-free products.
The Animal Welfare Act was put in place to regulate treatment. The Animal Welfare Law is the “only law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research,exhibition, transport, and by dealers”(“Animal Welfare Act” 1). Sadly, the federal law only states that the owner must in the least minimally care for their animals. Furthermore, the Animal Welfare Act does not have the power to prevent testing, only to slightly impose that the animals are not harmed. The majority of animals used for food, clothing, experiments, etc. are not protected by this law meaning only a small portion reap its minimal benefits; nevertheless, were the law to be strengthened the animal population could greatly benefit.
Others believe that animals are not deserving of rights because they do not have the same personalities or anatomy as humans; even though, this same group of people claim their bodies are needed for testing to further the medical field. Animals are not a reliable source of information because although close, DNA between an animal and human differ. Thus, despite the positive effects a medicine or product may have in the animal’s body, the same effect may not be for a human. There have been instances where the animals respond positively from a medication and are cured but the human patient remains ill and unaffected. Therefore, despite animals being similar to humans they cannot be used as an example of the human body because they will not always react in the same way as a human.
In the medical field, researchers look to animals to use for discoveries not factoring in the possible errors regarding body function differentiation between animal and human. The main use of animals in the medical industry is to test the effects of a medicine or treatment that will come in contact with a human. Mice are most often used in laboratory experiments; although, Europe has banned the use of animals in product testing. Several cases have been brought to the attention of the public where medical drugs were safe for the animals but not safe for human use. Other instances have resulted in women having children who were born with birth defects because it was declared as safe due to the reaction of the animal. Shown in the research, animals should not be used because they are not a reliable source in proving the outcome of a product for a human.
Animals have become a new source of cadavers, known as xenografts, used to replace organs that no longer function in another species like a human.

The process of exchanging organs from one species to another is referred to as xenotransplantation. Unfortunately, this process rarely has any benefits nor is it successful for the recipient because many patients have died as a result. Xenotransplantation is desirable because when successful it can be a large money making industry. One example of a failed xenotransplantation was Baby Fae who received a heart from a baboon. The Baby Fae experiment was conducted by Dr. Leonard Bailey, violating medical law. The baby was born with a heart defect that the doctor intended to fix with xenotransplantation; yet her illness already had a cure. The transplant was unsuccessful due to baboon hearts being unable to reach the size of a human's meaning Baby Fae died (Roleff

82).
In theory as long as a product is put to test, and passes all the tests then it is safe to be put on store shelves. What the researchers choose to ignore is the fact that animals bodies are not set up in the same a humans is because a body’s functions pertain to the needs of the species. Researchers refuse to acknowledge the flaws in the testing that may mislead or lessen the value of their data. For example, the Lethal Dose X test consists of of scientists feeding and injecting substances into the animal, resulting in death among the majority of the animals(Roleff 78). This test cannot determine long term effects because the dosage of the substance is not taken into consideration. The animals suffer painful deaths not from the toxicity of the substance but rather the forceful injection that forces the body to shut down organs slowly killing its recipient.
Another test where flawed testing is not accounted for in the data is the Draize Eye Test performed primarily on rabbits. To perform the test “rabbits [are] incapacitated in stocks with their eyelids held open by clips, sometimes for multiple days, so they cannot blink away the products being tested”(source 8 1). This form of research is commonly used by makeup brands when testing possible irritations from eye makeup. Rabbits do not produce tears in the way humans do when a foreign liquid or object enters the eye, meaning even if there were no restraints the rabbit would not be able to rid itself of what the scientists are testing. Bodies and lives are being unnecessarily put under stress considering the data is not accurate; however, if animal rights were strengthened they would not be victims of researchers.
The most common use known to the public is using animals as livestock to provide food. Livestock live a life of confinement with no freedom to roam and little to no human attention. Their main purpose is to make money for the meat industry; however, this comes at the price of transporting animals to the auctions so they can be sold to be slaughtered. Pig mothers suffer in the environment of factory farms even when pregnant. They are forced into small carales with other pigs without any consideration being taken for their pregnant bodies meaning they spend long months while carrying their young uncomfortably. After piglets are born, they are taken from their mothers at as young as three weeks old only to be made into food as soon as they reach proper weight. Other animals like cows live their lives on a constant cycle of milking and producing calves that will enter into the same cycle. Calves are rarely left to be with their mother long after birth in order for the mother to have enough milk to be shipped out. After giving birth the majority of a mother cow’s milk is sold for the consumption of humans rather than their own young. Unfortunately, these farm animals are not protected by laws like the Animal Welfare Act which is reflected in their poor treatment.
Minks and foxes often fall victim to the cruelty of fur farms where animals are kept to be skinned for their pelts which may be used for resources like expensive clothing. Minks and foxes are kept in small cages with no space to move which can result in risky behavior for their health because they are experiencing anxiety. Due to the animals being kept such close living quarters bacterial contamination, disease, and flea make frequent appearances. Sadly “fur-farming methods are designed to maximize profits at the expense of the animal’s health and comfort”(Swart 178). Multiple situations have occurred where animals have woken up while being skinned. The fear and pain is absolutely unimaginable to the human mind. The are few regulations for fur farms, but the lives of animals should be protected to prevent any chance of feeling pain as a result of human action.
Seen in science projects, schools, and movies is the use of animal experimentation manipulating their genes, diets, and overall lives.

According to PETA, “...95 percent of mice bred for these cruel experiments don’t carry the desired gene, they’re typically killed right after birth”(“Animal Experimentation up 73 percent…” 1). Inside lab walls there are no limits as to what can be done to the animals. Testing includes but is not limited to breeding animals but separating babies from mothers after birth, electric shocking, blinding, and starving. Now not only are animals being put through physically painful traumas, but they are also having their senses taken away from them. U.S. University researchers have conducted stress experiments which have led to similar effects in humans. The animals are put under severe stress as they are shocked and forced to fight for survival in the next test. Others are suspended from body parts or held still for prolonged periods of time instilling fear and anxiety into the animal as they are immobile(“Animal in Science/ Research”

1).
Unlike equality, animal rights entitle a life free of human induced pain or being used for the convenience of human life. Animals have done nothing to deserve to “...live stressful, monotonous, and unnatural lives of daily confinement and deprivation”(source 7 1). Strong laws need to be put in place prohibiting the use of animals for their skins, flesh, or daily lives. Animals should not be bred for the testing because it would be largely considered unethical to do the same to a human. Animals suffer from the same stress and anxiety humans experience when being put through traumatic events. Contrary to popular belief, animals should be given natural rights and laws should be put in place to protect their lives from being harmed in any way.