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Alternative methods for animal testing
Importance of stem cell research
Importance of stem cell research
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Medical sciences are required to keep us healthy when there are diseases spreading and animal testing is a key part of this research. Animal test is not wrong because it is the only way to keep ahead in the arms race against disease. Disease keep changing and evolving so scientist must keep researching and making stronger, more potent medicines to combat them. Thus we must use living creatures as test subject for the medicines. Experimenting on animals sounds cruel and it is, but the threat of disease out ways the cruelty that is inflicted on the animals. In part, humans are to blame for this situation. In Sabin’s article Animal Research Saves Human Lives she says, “Advanced sanitation was responsible in part for the dramatic rise in number …show more content…
So it’s understandable when people like Peggy Carlson say that animal testing is wrong and that we should not use it. In her article Carlson says, “In the case of the polio vaccine, misleading animal experiments detoured scientists away from reliable clinical studies thereby, according to Dr. Sabin himself, delay the initial work on polio prevention” (Page 160) Something that Carlson has to understand is that animal testing is not the perfect solution, but it is required. There will be mistakes but it is the right course of action.
Scientist are looking for alternatives to animal testing but there are simply no better alternatives available to them right now. Human testing is not even considered as an option. Giving up on using animal testing is also not an option because the human race would be all but eradicated by the pathogens it has created. The closest thing we have to a better alternative is stem cells. Once stem cell research has progressed to the point in which scientists can use it produce medicines to fight diseases, it will no doubt be used over animal testing.
Animal testing is not going to stop because humans the results of it. What can be done to lessen the amount of animal testing done is to put more research into stem cells. With more breakthroughs in stem cell research, scientists can create useable organs to discover cures. Until these breakthroughs are accomplished, animal testing is the best choice the human race has to survive its own
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
Albert Sabin, the developer of the polio vaccine once said, “Without animal research, polio would still be claiming thousands of lives each year.” Polio is a deadly disease caused by a virus that spreads from person to person. This infectious disease renders the brain and spinal cord helpless while also ensuring a permanent case of paralysis to the victim. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “…13,000 to 20,000 para-lytic cases were reported annually,” before the 18th century. After the introduction of the polio vaccine, “…a total of 2,525 paralytic cases were reported, compared with 61 in 1965.” This dramatic decrease in the prominence of the polio disease can only be attributed to the success of animal testing. Animal experimentation is used in the research of genetics, drug testing, biology, toxicity testing, cosmetic testing, and many other fields. Despite all of its beneficial traits, animal testing has been wildly controversial over the past decades because of its perceived unethical treatment towards animals. Although animal testing may be deemed unethical by many, it is a form of medical testing that has not only saved lives but has also greatly revolutionized the medical world.
Animal testing is important to ensure the safety of a variety of products, specifically pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and medical devices used for surgery and other treatments. It has also been used throughout history for various purposes. Once an unregulated practice, today there are laws, regulations, and requirements associated with the ethical use of animal models. In the United States, animal studies are now required before moving on to clinical trials. Legalities aside, controversy still arises between scientists, and public opinion can vary from unconcerned to extreme. The practice of vaccination is an important part of maintaining public health, and it has proven to be beneficial to both humans and animals. In regard to vaccine development, animal testing during the pre-clinical stage seems to be a necessary part of the process. The growth of technology may provide us with potential alternatives to animal testing, and the search for such alternatives is of ethical importance.
Animal testing has been used for developing and researching cures for medical conditions. For example, the polio vaccine, chemotherapy for cancer, insulin treatment for diabetes, organ transplants and blood transfusions are just some of the important advances that have come from research on animals (“Animal Testing”). Consuming animals for research benefits in developing various treatments and also benefits in discovery better methods for cures. According to the article “Animal Testing”, it says that the underlying rationale for the use of animal testing is that living organisms provide interactive, dynamic systems that scientists can observe and manipulate in order to understand normal and pathological functioning as well as the effectiveness of medical interventions. It relies on the physiological and anatomical similarities between humans and other animals (MacClellan, Joel). Meaning that animals have the same body components and features as humans and is the best thing to research on to better understand the human development. Even though several argue that animal testing is harming the animals, one has to think back to all the benefits that has come from it. There may be a little remorse for endangering animal lives, but realizing how far medicine has come makes it worth the while.
The testing of animals is rising from pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies because the companies are spending billions of dollars on animals testing in order to make products safer to humans. Test animals are also treated poorly and, because of how they are treated, the animals begin to act differently. The substances cosmetics companies inject into animals are very harmful and torturous to animals, so most animals end up dying or being severely handicapped from then on. Most of the findings and conclusions from animal experimentation do not end up working the same way with humans. Enormous amounts of money are spent on animal testing each year when there are better ways to put the investments for better benefit for our country. Advancements in technology should be used to speed up and improve the process of developing cures for humans instead of continuing to torture innocent creatures. Although animal testing is still being used, the European Union has banned it completely. There are many alternative ways that are in the process of being made but ultimately we need an alternative method that bans animal testing completely.
Right now, millions of animals—including mice, rats, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs and monkeys—are locked in tight cages in laboratories waiting in fear for the next terrifying and painful lab experiment to be performed on them. (“Animals Used for Experimentation”) Such testing is used for things like biology lessons, medical training, curiosity-driven experimentation, and general cosmetic testing. (“Animal Experiments: Overview”) Animal testing should not continue in our world being that animals have rights similar to us, rights to live a life free of torture, free of being held against their will in a laboratory. Furthermore, animal testing is inhumane, it violates the lives of all animals used in such testing, it is very expensive for the inaccuracy of the results we obtain from it and it is unreliable as animals differ from humans in many ways. (“Pros and Cons of Animal Testing Facts”)
Research on living animals has been practiced since at least 500 BC. Over 25 million animals are tested in labs every year. They are used for medical and scientific research. The animals used in research often undergo cruel experimentations and suffer through the pain. During medical testing, less than 2% of human illnesses are seen in animals, therefor medical testing on animals is cruel and pointless. Medical testing on animals should be illegal because products that pass animal tests end up harming or killing humans about 61% of the time.
Animal testing was started in the 1800’s for creating vaccines for children, the animals they started testing on were monkeys, mice, and guinea pigs. Based off Charles Darwin’s idea that humans are closely linked to primates we based the idea that animal testing would benefit us. (Animal Testing) Animal testing has caused pain and relief alike. On one hand innocent animals are dying on the other we are creating vaccines to save animals and humans alike.
Besides, “Animal research has led to vaccines against diptheria, rabies, tuberculosis, polio, measles, mumps, cholera, whooping cough, and rubella. It has meant eradication of smallpox, effective treatment for diabetes and control of infection with powerful antibiotics. Cardiac pacemaker, microsurgery to reattach severed limbs, and heart, kidney, lung, liver and other transplants are all possible because of animal research”(O’Neil 210). In short, animal testing saves lives. Animal testing helps find causes, and cures, of diseases, genetic defects, birth defects, and abnormalities.
...hat animal testing is harsh and very cruel and sometimes wonder myself whether animal testing for medicine is even accurate or worth it in the end. If you think about it, what makes their lives any lesser than ours? Is it because we’re smarter? However, saying that would be like saying smarter people are superior to ones with smaller IQs. It is going to take a long time for people to start realizing what is truly going on in the world. It is hard to create a perfect and Utopian vision of what is humane and moral. I’m sure with the research people are doing now, they are coming up with new ways to tests different drugs and medications without the harm of animals, such as growing human skin tissue and cells from stem cells. Over time, new theories will emerge and new methods of medical tests will surface that will benefit humans and animals, and harm neither of them.
Not only do we have other options for these tests, but animals testing has actually been proven to be ineffective. Companies claim that this sort of cruelty will benefit the human population by testing the “safety” of the products, as they have been for hundreds of years and although this may have been helpful in the past, scientists have discovered otherwise. “While funding for animal experimentation and the number of animals tested on continues to increase, the United States still ranks 49th in the world in life expectancy and second worst in infant mortality in the developed world” (“Animal Testing Is”). This evidence shows that while we still continue to support and spend money on animal testing, it is not working as well as we thought.Essentially we are torturing the animals for a negative outcome, both for the human and the animal. The Food and Drug Administration reports that “92 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal tests fail in humans” (“Top Five Reasons”). If the products and drugs that we are testing on the animals are not working then there is no use in harming a harmless animal for them. Some may disagree and say that animal testing has enabled us to develop many life saving treatments for both humans and animals. But in reality there has been more cons then pros in animal testing. For example, “Animal tests on the arthritis drug Vioxx showed that it had a protective effect on the hearts of mice, yet the drug went on to cause more than 27,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths before being pulled from the market” (Should Animals Be). While animal testing has enabled us to create great products it is usually ineffective on humans and leads to animals being harmed for no
Animal testing has been a strategy for selling products and research for hundreds of years. The following reasons scientists use them for is safety, human biology, research purposes, cures, and to employ workers. Scientists often use animals with shorter lifespans while testing. People also use this method of testing because; there is no other option than to use different types of species of animals (other than humans).
The people claim that, animal testing infringes animal’s rights, makes animal suffering in the experiments, and some of animal experiments may never be useful to human beings. This is true, but we cannot stop animal testing. According to the article “Facts about Animal Research” by Cook (2006), the smallpox has disappeared from the earth because scientists get vaccines from cows. Also, the scientists got insulin, which is the only drug, which can control diabetes, from dogs and fish. Many medicines are related to medical animal experiments, we cannot give up medical animal experiments.
First of all, animal testing should be banned in order to protect the rights of animals. In other words, animals’ rights are infringed by experimenting on them. Animals and humans are similar in many ways. To begin with, they have similar levels of biological complexity. They both are aware that they exist and they both make conscious choices. Philosophy professor at North Carolina State University Tom Regan points out "Animals have a basic moral right to respectful treatment. This inherent value is not respected when animals are reduced to being mere tools in a scientific experiment." (F. B. Orlans) Experimentation on an animal ...
In conclusion, animal testing has been overused for too long. Nothing essential has been the outcome of it, and no scientific breakthrough has stopped anything from damaging us. The many, many animals are mistreated, many times killed. They need to begin to establish a more protective act, just like the AWA, however this time, it should strive to protect the majority of the animals used, so they can live safely. Finally, if we are able to find and develop successful alternatives to all animal testing, it might be gone forever. If all of these things can come together and make it happen, we may be able to see the day where all animals are treated ethically and with sheer, utter, respect.