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Should animal testing be used for research
Benefits facts of animal testing
Positive and negative effects on animal testing
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Opinions are a dime a dozen and everyone has one when it comes to the century old issue of animal testing. These tests are used throughout the world for various experiments on animals. Is animal testing right or wrong? There are several pros and cons of animal testing and I will review both sides of this issue. The testing of animals can benefit the human society because the researchers come up with cures for humans from the animal tests. The researchers utilize a variety of methods to do these tests. On the other hand, some animals are being mistreated and are suffering from these tests. The animals are being subjected to pointless tests and they are demeaning to them. Animal testing is a controversial issue with many pros that enhance our …show more content…
Katrina Fox’s article, “The Human Cost of Animal Experiments” talks about how some of these tests are not always correct or accurate. About two million Americans become ill from drugs and these drugs were deemed good to release to the public. Out of those two million people, one hundred thousand people die from these drugs being released. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved two-hundred nine new drugs from 1976 to 1985 and those drugs caused severe side-effects. Some of these side effects were heart attacks, kidney failure, liver failure, and stroke (Fox 1). Drugs do fail and some of the tests can be harmful or even fatal to humans. This is what a textbook on animal experimentation states, “Uncritical reliance on the results of animal tests can be dangerously misleading and has cost the health and lives of tens of thousands of humans” (Fox 2). This states even medical professionals do not even believe in animal testing and it has cost humans a lot of lives. In the next section, questionable accuracy of toxicity tests is discussed. The inaccuracy of toxicity tests is the main reason why the drugs cause adverse reactions. For example, the LD50 Draize test is when animals are fed harmful chemicals and half of them are killed (Fox 3). This test can be very unreliable because the different variables such as the weight, age, and gender of the animals. This test can make the results inaccurate for the subjects being tested. This is because there are so many different variables to account for this test and they are usually unreliable. Another reason these tests are questionable is because some tests work in humans while others do not work for animals. In the United States, around twenty- billion aspirin are sold every year. When researching rats with aspirin, it causes birth defects. Another example of this is ibuprofen, which at low doses causes kidney failure in dogs (Fox 4). There are plenty
One must remember that scientists who carry out animal testing are human to and most definitely do feel some sense of guilt using these animals for the sole reason to benefit mankind. However, “if there were good alternatives to animals that worked better or as well, for less money and hassle, scientists would use them” (Source D). Many believe that animals testing is wrong, but they must understand that at the current time there is no other option. It is difficult to find a different practice has been so substantial and has improved millions of lives and society as a whole. Animal testing, though the testing on animals may not be the best option, the after effects of testing has been successful over the past decades and will continue on this path as scientists and researchers gain more knowledge. There may be a point in time that society becomes so better off that there would be no more need to test
The authors quote a vast amount of credible sources from prestigious universities such as Princeton and from well-known animal rights groups such as PETA. I will use this as my main source of information. George, Patricia and Geraldine Wagner. “Point: Medical Experiments on Animals Are an Important Element of Drug Development.” Animal Experimentation 2015: 7.
and Europe, which include reduction of animal use, refine animal study techniques, and animal testing replacement. According to Dana ,Bidnall, “Animals are also used, and subsequently killed, every year in many other types of laboratory experiments, from military testing to simulated car crashes to deliberately introduced diseases such as AIDS and Alzheimer 's”(49). Bidnal also states that, “These experiments take place in labs at universities, pharmaceutical companies, and testing agencies, and on farms and military bases around the world”(49). The author suggest,”Researchers who conduct experiments on animals argue that it would be unethical to test substances with potentially adverse side effects on humans; animals are good surrogates because their responses are similar to humans”(49).Bidnal contends with ,”However, some animals are chosen for other reasons”(49). According to Bindal, “Animal testing is not the only option in toxicity testing”(50). Bidnal states, “Alternatives are widely available and include human clinical and epidemiological studies; experiments with cadavers, volunteers,and patients; computer simulation and mathematical models; and in vitro (test tube) tissue culture techniques, to name just a
“If you want to test cosmetics, why do it on some poor animal that hasn't done anything? They should use prisoners who have been convicted of murder or rape instead. So, rather than seeing if perfume irritates a bunny rabbit's eyes, they should throw it in Charles Manson's eyes and ask him if it hurts.” (DeGeneres, DG). Think about those animals imprisoned in cold cages, having nothing to do but wait, waiting in fear, knowing that when the time comes their cages will be opened, but not to set them free. Unable to react, unable to defend themselves, they rot in pain and mourn with isolation. And yet all we, humans, do is sit back and watch them suffer. Animal testing is the abuse of animals to develop new products. Although some people are against animal testing others agree that animals are needed in researches to find upgraded and new cures for developing diseases, to find advanced aesthetic products, and to find refine household products leading to a more satisfying quality.
The first pro to animal testing is that it has helped us create lifesaving cures and treatments. The California Biomedical Research Association released a statement saying almost every single medical breakthrough has resulted in the direct use of animals in the last 100 years. Can you believe this? Taking out dogs pancreases helped us discover insulin, chimpanzees helped us get a vaccine for Hepatitis B, and even the polio vaccine was tested on animals. Animal testing has also helped us treat and understand conditions like brain injury, breast cancer, cystic fibrosis, childhood leukemia, tuberculosis, multiple sclerosis, malaria, and many others. It even helped us develop anesthetics, pacemakers, and cardiac value substitutes. Almost every cure for any condition is due to animal testing. Without animal testing, we may not have been able to find many of these cures and find cures for other conditions in the future.
Approximately 60 million animals are used each year in the laboratories of the United States. Whether or not animal testing is cruel or acceptable is an issue many argue over today. Although most acknowledge the negative effects of animals in laboratories, there are many pros in the scientific research.
One word comes to mind when I think of animal testing: cruel. Animal testing has been a subject of debate for many years. While most people think that using animals to test products is a reasonable approach, in reality the outcome does not always show how the products will react on humans, and the animals suffer unnecessarily. The United States needs to ban all animal testing like the European Union did because testing on animals is cruel and animals should not be dying from it.
Some would argue that animal testing is torture. Some would say that animal testing is completely necessary. There is no reason for animal testing to happen. There are several statistics that point to the negative side of animal testing. There are more pointing to the negative than to the positive. What is the point on testing on animals when we have statistics like how only 1.16% of the diseases are found in animals, or that 92% of the things that do pass through animal testing do not even work on humans? Europe, Israel, and India have already banned animal testing for cosmetics, because it was too harmful on the animals.
Safer alternatives are out there, and they are becoming more accurate as technology improves. Let’s face it, this is the 21st century. As technology keeps advancing, animal testing just seems pointless in our modern world. Scientists have developed effective, non-animal research methods that are cheaper, faster, and more accurate than animal tests. This includes vitro and micro dosing testing as well as computer models. Vitro testing, such as studying cell cultures in a petri dish, can produce more precise results than animal testing because human cells can be used. Micro dosing, the administering of doses too small to cause adverse reactions, can be used in human volunteers whose blood is then analyzed. Computer models, such as virtual reconstructions of human molecular structures, can predict the toxicity of substances without invasive experiments on animals. Out of all the hundreds of techniques available, cell culture toxicology methods give accuracy rates of 80-85 percent. All these new forms of testing are the way of the future. It’s time to let animals be free instead of living these in barbaric conditions of science
Millions of animals are used to test consumer products, but they also become victims to experiments for medical research. In The Ethics of Animal Research (2007) both authors state that there have been many medical advances with the development of medicines and treatments as a result of research conducted on animals (para 1). These medical i...
Is the use of animals in research justified? Should animal experimentation be permitted? Should these animals be liberated? A logical person would say the benefits justify the research. Without animal testing, products would be based on theory. No one would want to use something, which may damage eyes, be poisonous, cancerous, and cause birth defects. Animals used in testing are not from the endangered species list; also many of the types of animals used are killed each year by rat or mouse traps, animal control, exterminators, and animal shelters. Animal testing reaps great benefits such as finding effective drugs to combat disease, improve surgical procedures, and make products safe.
Animal testing is one the most beyond cruelty against animals. It is estimated about 7 million innocent animals are electrocuted, blinded, scalded, force-fed chemicals, genetically manipulated, killed in the name of science. By private institutions, households products, cosmetics companies, government agencies, educational institutions and scientific centers. From the products we use every day, such as soap, make-up, furniture polish, cleaning products, and perfumes. Over 1 million dogs, cats, primates, sheep, hamsters and guinea pigs are used in labs each year. Of those, over 86,000 are dogs and cat. All companies are most likely to test on animals to make patients feel safe and are more likely to trust medicines if they know they have been tested on animals first (PETA, N.D, page 1). These tests are done only to protect companies from consumer lawsuits. Although it’s not quite true, Humans and animals don’t always react in the same way to drugs. In the UK an estimated 10,000 people are killed or severely disabled every year by unexpected reactions to drugs, all these drugs have passed animal tests. Animal testing is often unpredictable in how products will work on people. Some estimates say up to 92 percent of tests passed on animals failed when tried on humans (Procon.org, 2014, page 1). Animal testing can’t show all the potential uses for a drug. The test results are...
Hundreds of millions of animals die every year from animal testing in the United States. Innocent animals are used everyday in laboratories for biology advancements, medical training, curiosity-driven experimentation, and chemical, drug, food, and cosmetic testing. They are used to provide information to make better products that are safe for human use. Although animal experimentation has some benefits, the negatives outweigh the positives. Animal testing is killing off innocent beings for the possible human benefit, and with modern technology, there are alternative ways to test products that leave animals unharmed.
However, some people believe that animal testing is beneficial in various ways. Those people that see animal testing as beneficial think that without animals, medical developments would not be where it is today. (Animal Testing) It has helped us to find and ensure the safety of drugs and treatments to improve health and medicine such as; open heart surgery, organ transplants, effective insulin, vaccines for deadly diseases and others. It is the most accurate way to learn the effects of substances in a living body. (Animal Testing) Another reason they see it benefi...
Penicillin, a vital antibiotic for infection is toxic to ginea pigs. Animal testing isn’t reliable option for human medication or products. Animals have different genetic make up than humans. Mike Leavitt, The Health and Human Service Secretary, states “ Nine out of ten experimental drug fail in clinical studies because we cannot accurately predict how they will behave in people based on laboratory and animal studies.” (Animal Research is Unethical and Scientifically Unnecessary). Humans have obvious differenced than animals like physiology and anatomy. These differences are the reason drug testing on animals isn’t equal when medication or product is used in a human trial. Pfizer reported in 2004 that they “wasted more than $2 billion over the past decade on drugs that “failed in advanced human testing or, in a few instances, were forced off the market, because of liver toxicity problems” (Animal Research is Unethical and Scientifically Unnecessary). Some drugs have caused serious and unexpected health problems even after they were tested on animals. Animal