Every year, a number of animals are locked up and subjected to tests that cause them pain and even death. This is through the animal testing procedure. Animal experimentation is a procedure whereby non-animals are tested and used to develop treatments, check the safety of products for human use, and other commercial and biomedical uses. It is estimated that, over 26 million animals are used every year in the United States for animal experiments. Animal testing is a controversial topic and like any other contentious subject, it faces a great number of support and opposition depending on human perception. It has various advantages and disadvantages and they are mainly based on one deciding whether to criticize it as ethically and morally wrong or right. Animal experimentation is an unacceptable, cruel, and an inhumane procedure on animals.
Animal experimentation is unacceptable and cruel procedure that should not be supported. Animal experiments violate the animals’ rights by denying them the right to live, and die a natural death (Watson 92). This is because; the animals used for testing are killed after their use. Moreover, others are injured and left to die on their own, which is very wrong. In addition, this procedure makes the animals go through a painful period while it is being administered. Animal experimentation is a cruel procedure that makes the animals suffer physically, and emotionally during the process. Moreover, before the experiment, animals are subjected to forced inhalation, they are deprived of food and water in addition to prolonged periods of physical restraints. Also, the animals are wounded physically by being inflicted with burns and wounds in order to determine the healing process. This is inhumane because these animals have emotions, and they should not be subjected to all this suffering. Those in support of this procedure, argue that, through this procedure, researchers can find medicine and treatments for some disorders. There is no justification whatsoever as to why animals should be physically and mentally tortured so as to experiment on medical procedures that might not even work in the future. In addition, this will be like justifying that, animals deserve to suffer because they do not have cognitive ability and moral judgment, which is wrong. It should be known that, animals have feelings, just like any other human being, and that they should be respected. Therefore, animal experimentation is not a right procedure.
Moreover, instead of using animals, alternative methods can be used to replace animal testing. According to Roush, alternative testing methods exist that can be used to replace animal testing. For instance, there is in vitro also known as in glass testing, whereby cell cultures are studied in a petri dish and this process produces appropriate results, compared to results from animal testing since human cells are used. In addition to in vitro, processes like micro dosing and the use of computer models such as virtual reconstruction of human molecular structures can be used, instead of the using animals for testing. These procedures are more accurate and reliable, because human cells are used.
Animal experimentation should be abolished because; most substances used in these procedures cannot be administered to human beings. In addition, substances used in animal testing cannot be approved for public use and consumption and therefore, the animals end up dying in vain with no benefit from the procedure. There are many cases where it has been reported that, cruel procedures have been done on animals in search for a certain cure, and it did not work. Likewise, this can be evidenced by the rising number of cases where people have been reported to die, after procedures that were successful on animals failed on them. This proves that this experimentation does not work at the end. According to Thomas, animal experimentation is a failure (34). For that reason, animal experimentation should not be supported.
Another con on animal experimentation is that, humans and animals are not the same, and therefore, this procedure can produce poor tests. According to Kilkenny et al, the metabolic, anatomic and cellular difference between animals and humans make animals poor replicas of human beings (1578). Therefore, the reaction of drugs in an animal’s body cannot be same to a reaction of the same drug in a human being’s body. Human beings are very different from animals and so there is no way a researcher can assert that, if the trial works on animals, it can also work on humans. A perfect example is the animal test on the Arthritis drug Vioxx that showed that, it had a protective effect on the hearts of mice. However, when this drug was administered to humans, it caused more than 27,000 heart attacks and a number of cardiac arrest deaths before it was banned from the markets. According to Buckendahl, drugs from animal experiments kill many people because they are not appropriate for human use (104). Buckendahl asserts that, animal testing procedure is unreliable because, animals are very different from human, and make poor subjects. Therefore, this procedure is unreliable and should be abolished because these experiments will never work on humans.
Animal testing is very costly. This procedure costs an enormous amount of cash since the animals have to be housed, cared for, fed and treated with expensive drugs. Likewise, the price of animals is very high and a lot of money is being wasted purchasing them for testing, yet the results are not reliable. This procedure should be abolished because, it is a waste of money and resources, yet there are alternative methods that can replace this process which are inexpensive.
Numerous groups argue for animal experimentation. They term it as an improvement in the health sector. Additionally, some groups claim that it improves human health as medication for many disorders can be found through this process. However, arguments for animal experimentation are always logically countered and challenged. There is no documented evidence that animal experiments were indispensable in making major advances in medicine. A number of procedures can replace animal testing and produce relevant results, because human cells are used. This fact garners points that, animal experimentation is an inappropriate procedure.
In conclusion, animal experimentation has been subject of rebuttal and debates for sometime, with some supporting it, while other against it. Regardless of the reactions from different groups, research on animal should not continue, as it is inhumane and unethical. Moral and ethical issues arise about the procedure; everyone needs to take a stand as to whether it is right or wrong. Animal experimentation should be abolished, and other ways be instituted in its place. The paper concludes that animal experimentation is wrong, and so are the methods used in the procedure. Therefore, further research on these procedures should not be encouraged in order to save our animals from the pain and torture. In addition, there are alternative methods that can be used to replace animals.
Works Cited
Watson, Stephanie. Animal Testing: Issues and Ethics. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2009. Print.
According to Watson, animals should be treated in a humane way other than being subjected to physical torture. It is morally wrong to inflict pain on animals in the name of animal experimentation, which at the end produces no cure.
Animal testing issues and ethics Stephanie watson.pdf
Link http://ge.tt/5EcR06e/v/29
Kilkenny Carol, Brown William, Cuthill Innes, Emerson Michael, and Altman Douglas, G. Animal research: reporting in vivo experiments: the ARRIVE guidelines. British Journal of Pharmacology 160.7 (2010): 1577-1579. Print.
Kilkenny et al argue that, there is medical progress in research and animal testing is not beneficial. They discuss the modern medications have not come from animal testing but through alternative methods.
Link http://biomed.au.dk/fileadmin/www.biomed.au.dk/faenotypering/Pdf/Kilkenny_2010_ARRIVE.pdf
Buckendahl, Heather. Animal Testing Does Not Bring Out the Animal in Humans. 13 Apr. 2011. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. http://blogs.nwmissouri.edu/binturong/2011/04/13/animal-testing-does-not-bring-out-the-animal-in-humans/
Buckendahl is against animal testing because it is not reliable. He states that, these tests are not beneficial to humans because humans cannot be compared to non-human animals.
Link http://blogs.nwmissouri.edu/binturong/2011/04/13/animal-testing-does-not-bring-out-the-animal-in-humans/
Roush, Wade. “Hunting for animal alternatives.” Science 274.5285 (1996): 168 Academic One File. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
According to Roush, animals are poor models for humans because they are different. Therefore alternative methods should be applied other that using animals yet their bodily systems functions differently.
Link http://www.sciencemag.org/content/274/5285/168
Thomas, Pat. “Animal Experimentation Hampers Medical Research.” At Issue: Animal Experimentation. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr. Detroit: Green haven Press, 2009. Print.
According to Thomas, animal experiments are harmful to animals. They are subject to mistreatments and physical harm by the researchers. In order to mimic human lameness in dogs, cats, sheep and pigs, researchers are forced to hit the joints of animals with hammer blows, inject them with irritating liquids, subject them to ionizing. This is inhumane.
Link http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/DocumentToolsPortletWindow?displayGroupName=Viewpoints&jsid
