Pro Animal Testing Essay

Animal Testing should be kept around
When reading about how animals are getting tested, people think it is gruesome, horrific, and inhumane. Of course it will not always end well, but the reality is, people wouldn’t have half the products as they do now. People wouldn’t have half the important cosmetics that they use daily. And they definitely wouldn’t have furthered studies on diseases and medicines if scientists didn’t have animal testing. Animal testing is very needed for the advances in cures for medicine and cosmetic products. Testing on animals is to ensure the safety of others, help people in the near future and discover new cures and chemicals to advance humans. Why wouldn’t others want to take advantage of the opportunity to help protect

people and the ones they love?
Being able to find cures for illnesses is a major accomplishment in this society. It brings humans together and shows others can succeed in something if they try hard enough. This generation wouldn’t be this far now if scientists didn’t have animal testing. When testing on chimpanzees, humans have 99% of the same DNA. With mice, humans have 98% of the same DNA. The data would be close to accurate when testing on them (9 Integral Pros and Cons of Animal Testing On Cosmetics | Navajo Code Talkers). With animal testing, scientists have discovered many cures like Polio, insulin, and a vaccine for Hepatitis B; and those diseases were researched on chimpanzees. If scientists continue, they could find cures for breast cancer, brain injury, child leukemia, and more (Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?) People think it is unethical to use humans for that kind of testing, not knowing what could happen and it could turn out harming them. The “ethical” alternative would be testing on animals, “Human trials must be preceded by animal testing, as stated by the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki.” (16 Integral Pros and Cons of Animal Experimentation). Also, computers are only so helpful until there is stop in research and scientists need to get further in depth, “Computer models can only be reliable if accurate information gleaned from animal research is used to build the models in the first place” (Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?). The best, most complex computer cannot understand the inner workings of some organs like the brain (Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?) Not only does animal testing give humans major benefits but it also helps the animal species. It gives them the advantage of helping their endangered species. Without testing on animals, they’d be dying from diseases such as rabies, tetanus, leukemia, anthrax and others (12 Advantages and Disadvantages of Animal Testing On Cosmetics). Many associations believe animal testing is necessary.
A 2011 poll of nearly 1,000 biomedical scientists by the science journal Nature found that more than 90% ‘agreed that the use of animals in research is essential. The American Cancer Society, American Physiological Society, National Association for Biomedical Research, American Heart Association, and the Society of Toxicology all advocate the use of animals in scientific research (Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?)
Scientists discovered thalidomide, that was legal in the United States, caused birth defects. Thalidomide was a drug that supposedly helped with anxiety. If they tested thalidomide on animals then they could have saved many babies from birth defects sooner (Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?). With the drugs scientists use and give people because they think is helpful could actually be harmful and they would never know because they aren’t testing them (Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?) People should be encouraging animal testing; to further sciences, to help humans safer and live longer.
People’s daily routine consists of using products; everyone, men and women.

Using things like makeup, soap, shampoo and conditioner, lotions and more. They create products with new ingredients and need to see how it reacts with skin. Scientists use guinea pigs and bunnies to test the skin sensitivity. They shave the skin of bunnies and guinea pigs and rub chemicals on there to see the reacting (Fact Sheet: Cosmetic Testing). Without animal testing on cosmetics, people would be exposed to many chemicals that could harm others (12 Advantages and Disadvantages of Animal Testing On Cosmetics). This in turn gives companies a “competitive edge” over companies that don’t test their products on animals. It seems like they are “safeguarding” the environment (12 Pros and Cons of Animal Testing On Cosmetics). In China, it is mandatory that they test their products or the ingredients in the product (Fact Sheet: Cosmetic Testing). On average, a woman uses 12 products daily that are tested on animals. The FDA encourages the idea to test products on animals to ensure safety (Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?) Without testing the products, scientists would have a hard time knowing if the product is safe or not (12 Advantages and Disadvantages of Animal Testing On

Cosmetics).
Animal testing is something that everyone knows is needed in someway but would rather not use it if there are alternatives. People ask why would scientists test on animals if they have alternatives. One alternative is using actual humans, in which they would volunteer. “Rapid advances in technology have allowed for the development of sophisticated scanning machines and recording techniques that can be used to safely study human volunteers.” (Alternatives to Animal Testing). A twist in that is that not many people would volunteer to be tested on unless offered a lot of money. Also, if scientists can safely study humans, why not also safely study on animals, and if the animal gets harmed on the way, it won’t be as drastic as it would be if it were a human.
Some of the tests that are done are useless because the chemicals are not used in products or the products are not even used in sales. Though, it is better to test and be safe than sorry, “ In this case, animals would just suffer and even die in vain from dangerous tests that do not even offer benefits to humans. Unless every product is proven safe for public consumption by these tests, critics will not see the need for conducting them.” (12 Advantages and Disadvantages of Animal Testing On Cosmetics). The chemicals that were tested and not used for that specific product could be helpful to the next. Also, it could be a breakthrough if some change happens to the animal and helps them medically.
Another reason is because animal testing is cruel and inhumane, “When testing to evaluate irritation caused by cosmetics, for example, a rabbit’s eyes will be held open by clips so it cannot blink away the products being evaluated.” (16 Integral Pros and Cons of Animal Experimentation). People argue that it isn’t inhumane because animals are not humans but, the definition of inhumane is “lacking humanity, kindness, compassion, etc” (inhumane). That is cruel and inhumane, but think about what would happen if scientists didn’t test on animals. They could be using products that are endangering humans and could be putting chemicals in people’s eyes to make them blind. Would a mother want to give their child a product that was free of animal testing and something go horribly wrong and make the child have an allergic reaction or have an even worse reaction? People will not lie and say it isn’t inhumane but, it is better than not knowing what the detrimental effect of a product.
Jeremy Bentham said a famous quote, “The question is not, “Can they reason?” nor, “can they talk?” but rather, can they suffer?” The quote shows perspective from the animal's point of view. Yes they can and some do suffer through animal testing, but if that prevents people from getting hurt. Or, if it helps scientists discover new medical cures and treatments, people should use it to their advantage because someone else might be suffering who needs help and humans are stopping them from getting the help that they need.
The amount of animals tested on is not even close to the amount of animals humans eat. If people think that animals have the same rights as humans then we might as well all be vegetarians. “People in the United States eat 9 billion chickens and 150 million cattle, pigs and sheep annually, yet scientists only use around 26 million animals for research, 95% of which are rodents, birds and fish.” (Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?)
Animal testing is regulated, restricted and has many required laws. The Animal welfare Act has been regulating animal testing since 1996 (Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?) They make sure the animals are in a safe environment; “As well as stipulating minimum housing standards for research animals (enclosure size, temperature, access to clean food and water, and others), the AWA also requires regular inspections by veterinarians.” (Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?) If they don’t meet the specifications of the AWA then they will be fined, ceased, licence revoked or revocation (Regulation of Animal Research). A committee called the IACUC regulates animal testing facilities twice a year and checks the number of animals, the use for each one and the which species (Regulation of Animal Research). IACUC also check the drugs and procedures used and if it is being done in the smallest amount of pain and discomfort (Regulation of Animal Research). They need a description of what the procedure is and method to see if the experiment has been done before so it is not repeated and if there is an alternative experiment to prevent from pain (Regulation of Animal Research). The IACUC has around five members. They need to have at least one person who specializes in animal research like a veterinarian. One person who isn’t primarily in science like a lawyer. Then someone whose best interest is in the community (Regulation of Animal Research). The PHS policy provides funding for the institute but only if they get inspected by the IACUC. They also protect the vertebrae animals and if they don’t pass the IACUC, loses the PHS funding. (Regulation of Animal Research). “The Guide, published by the National Research Council and the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research, is not only the basis for AAALAC International accreditation (mentioned previously) but is also a central part of Public Health Service Policy on the humane care and use of laboratory animals.” (Regulation of Animal Research). For state and local regulation, they might have more laws where they would like more research put into animal testing. Some states want to regulate the housing, some specific types of animals and especially the testing, “Massachusetts, for example, has its own laws governing the care of research animals, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health licenses and inspects animal research facilities that house dogs or cats.” (Regulation of Animal Research). These institutes and regulations help keep the animals in the best environment before testing and make sure they use as little of them as possible, with as little pain as possible, with the most purpose.
Testing on animals is necessary to more things than people think. They need it for people’s daily products like lotion, shampoo, conditioner, makeup and more. Peoples also need it for medical advances that cannot only help them but the ones they love. Scientists have been doing this for years and without it, scientists wouldn’t have been able to find many cures and treatments to illnesses. When you really think about it, the amount of animals scientists do test on does not compare to the amount of animals people eat, so if others think that is unfair and animals should be treated as an equal then everyone might as well be vegetarians. Scientists test on animals to keep the public safe from the dangerous products and hopefully break through a new medical study