Ethics Of Animal Testing: Is Animal Testing Morally Justified?

Ethics of Animal Testing An animal’s life in a laboratory is a cold, unhappy, and unhealthy way of living. Lucky for Libby however, she was rescued just in time. Libby is a small dog that spent many of her years in an animal testing laboratory. She was kept in filthy, deplorable conditions. Although Libby was not an old dog when she was rescued, she had severe tooth decay and was terribly emaciated. Her body was desperately trying to fend off the parasitic hookworms and tapeworms that lived inside her. Finally, she was able to be rescued when PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) released a video of lab workers torturing animals by pouring toxic chemicals on them. The company was shut down and the animals’ lives began

For example, in the article, “Animal Testing: Is Animal Testing Morally Justified?”, when it says that “animal testing violates animals’ basic rights, and experiments conducted on them result in extreme and even torturous pain.” When being tested on, animals are often forced to endure harmful chemicals being poured on their skin and eyes. The same article reads, “Every year, tens of millions of animals are used in laboratory settings to gauge the toxicity of newly developed chemicals.” There are millions of animals that have to endure horrible traumas and pain every

Humans and animals are completely different creatures, however, the nervous system of humans and the nervous system of animals are fairly similar. For instance, if someone were to hold a lighter in the face of an animal, they would feel the same heat a human would. Another similarity lies in the makeup of the section of the brain where emotions occur. Therefore, people and animals have the same emotional capacity and animals feel emotions just as genuinely as humans. While it may be true that animals and humans have similiar nervous systems, it is also true that each animal is an individual at the cellular level, where most illnesses take place. Consequently, it would be unintelligent to assume animals would be adequate enough test subjects for humans. The bodies of humans and animals are vastly different, meaning they handle certain diseases and products uniquely. Studies show, “ Substances that are safe for humans, such as chocolate, are toxic to dogs and other animals. The hepatitis drug Fialuridine did not harm dogs and monkeys during animal testing, but killed five people in human clinical trials. The arthritis drug Vioxx was found safe for monkeys, but caused hundreds of thousands of cardiac instances and deaths in humans” (Carmody). It was also noted that the drug penicillin, which is extremely useful in humans, is deadly to guinea pigs. There are many examples of