Animal Rights
The issue of laboratory animal research rights has been in the news for quite some time now. Like any other issue the lab animal rights and laws have their own supporters and the people who are against it. The supporters of animal rights give their side of the argument by saying that the lab animal rights protect the animals from being ill-treated and from being misused. They are literally tortured and as a fellow living creature they should not awarded that sort of treatment. The people who believe that animals are the ideal test subjects to test out new treatment methods are very much mistaken about their views. Many research studies provide evidence that the lab animals differ in a lot of ways from human beings from biological differences to different in anatomy. Hence, the animal rights protect them from being ill-treated for no use in the end. The animal rights also indirectly protect us from being at the receiving end of misjudged results from the lab testing. They protect the wastage of government money as the animal lab testing is quite expensive. Not all tests lead to results. Some fail midway. This results in loss of animal lives. Scores of animals lose their lives every year due to research (“16 Integral Pros and Cons of Animal Experimentation”).
While some studies show that the animal research is not beneficial to humans, various other studies prove that many breakthroughs in the scientific field and medical filed are a direct result of the research conducted on animals. Stem cells research is a alternative to animal research but the area where the stem cells lacks is that they do not provide whole body test subjects for the process of research. The various side effects of new medical treatment techniques can be analyzed only if there is a full body available for research. The new age transplantation surgeries are possible now only because they were practiced first on animals and tested. The animal rights groups protest against the practice of such activities without realizing that they will be beneficial to humans in the end (“16 Integral Pros and Cons of Animal Experimentation”)..
The animal rights promote the welfare of animals by voicing protests against such activities. It sees that the animals get their due rights even though they cannot voice it themselves. The animal rights groups consider the act of torturing animals evil and unethical. They wish to end the pointless torture of so many animals since they do not get even 2% of the total diseases which we get and hence the research conducted to cure that it useless. The usage of animals in such activities comes in direct conflict with the sentient centered philosophical view of environmental ethics. The sentient centered philosophical view states that the animals which are capable of feeling pain should be protected (“Arguments against Animal Testing”).
If the animal right laws were not present, then the animals could be used for crucial methods needed for treating life ending diseases and problems. It increases the life expectancy of human beings. The DNA of the chimpanzees is found to be almost 100% similar to our DNA whereas the DNA of mice is about 97% similar. This is useful for the testing of new medical methods on the animals. Though the animals do not get much of the diseases which we humans get, most of the life threatening diseases in recent times are found to be transmitted from animals to man. The possibility of finding a cure for such problems depends on curing the diseases in the animals first by implementing some medical procedures on the animals (“Forty Reasons Why We Need Animals in Research”).
A compromise can be obtained between both the sides. Animal testing can be carried out only when the situation actually requires it like the testing of medical products for the treatment of diseases transmitted from animal to man. Animals are the only means through which cancer cells can be abolished completely and hence the cancer research should be allowed to be tested on animals while for other research stem cells can be used. Newer research methods should be found for replacing animal lab testing and money should be spent on developing the stem cell research into an effective replacement for animal testing.
WORKS CITED
"16 Integral Pros and Cons of Animal Experimentation." ConnectUS. 21 June 2015. Web. 09 May 2016.
"About Us." Forty Reasons Why We Need Animals in Research. 11 Sept. 2014. Web. 09 May 2016
"Cruelty Free International." Arguments against Animal Testing. Web. 09 May 2016.
