Introduction
The debate on the legality of using animals in research has continued to rage for many years now. A section of animal rights campaigners have argued that the use of animals in scholarly research contravenes the natural laws that guarantee the protection of the rights of animals. On the other hand, it is clear that the use of animals in research has yielded several positives that have seen the improvement of the lives of both people and animals in the world today. In this context, the current paper holds that the use of animals in research should be viewed as legal if those who are involved respect the ethical code that controls the use of animals in research. Thus, the current paper explains the benefits of using animals in research, analyzes the aspects of controversy and details the way the current controversial issues should be addressed to ensure that animal rights are always respected when conducting research.
The Benefits of Using Animals in Research
Man has benefitted a lot by the use of animals in research. For instance, almost all of the major breakthroughs in the fields of medicine have been a result of using animals in various studies (Festing and Wilkinson 526). Many vaccines that are common today were developed and adopted after their tests on various animals gave positive results (Britton 65). Effectively, man has been able to deal with some of the most devastating diseases by using animals to develop and test medicines that help fight off such ailments. Significantly, most of the antibiotics that are used today have previously been tested on animals and their large-scale adoption and usage among people was informed after such results were yielded. Therefore, it is clear that animals help people to develop their lives by enabling the testing of drugs and eventual adoption the drugs. In this regard, it is critical that those advocating against the use of animals in research should consider reviewing their objectives.
Animals have also enabled the breakthroughs that have been recorded concerning organ transplants. For instance, it took the successful tests in animals for the now popular kidney transplants to be conducted in people. Some animals were used in tests that aimed at validating the viability of organ transplants for people to start trying out the intervention of replacing defective organs with those from healthier individuals. Studies on various animals yielded the desired results, and since people and animals share a significant number of gene records, it was viewed that the obtained results could be useful in the human race. In this context, it can be said that animals have enabled people to undertake organ transplants, which has significantly save many lives that could otherwise have been lost to death. Therefore, those advocating for the banning of using animals in research should reconsider their stance to enable the realization of other positive results that could change the plight of human life on earth.
Cloning has also been another aspect that animals have enabled people to develop positive insights. In a recent cloning experiment, researchers were able to develop a clone of a sheep, an undertaking that entirely re-informed the field of biology, as it has always been understood (Koralage 1037). The insight from the sheep cloning experiment have helped scientists to understand the biological challenges involved in developing cloned organism, organs and tissues. Cloning is now understood as a futuristic undertaking that can significantly reduce the effects of various condition and enable people to overcome some biological challenges that have been cited as the cause of many complications and deaths in the modern world (Fisher 655). However, cloning has faced a backlash from the view that it goes against the ethical practices that control research. Nevertheless, the results of cloning, considering that the ethical guidelines are followed strictly, have the ability to benefit people massively; thus, it is important that those opposing it take a different view to enable the positives that define it be realized.
Additionally, most of the award-winning research undertakings have reported the use of animals in one or more ways to attain their results. Apparently, most of the Nobel Prize laureates in the fields of physiology and medicines have used animals in their studies and experiments that have yielded results that have been recognized on a global scale. As such, it is important to note that some of the world’s most credible agencies that give out awards and recognition to the most skilled individuals in the world recognize the important role that animals play in the field of research. Clearly, the recognition that such scholars and renowned commentators have received influence the assumptions that the use of animals in research should be legal if the animals are treated respectfully and within the set ethical and moral guidelines as established in regulated research practices. It is not questionable that animals have been vital in the discoveries that people have made in the fields of physiology and medicine. Therefore, those who oppose the legality of using animals in research need to change their view and adopt a realistic approach on addressing the issues that they have raised.
The Arguments against the Use of Animals in Research
The groups that oppose the use of animals in research have raised concern on the ethics behind the use of thinking and feeling animals in experiments. Apparently, during these experiments, the animals used in research are in some way mistreated and handled without the respect that every living thing deserves. In some dire cases, some of the animals used in research die and it is immoral for anyone to view the killing of animals in the quest for scientific research and study as progress (Grimm). Therefore, those opposing the use of animals in research rightfully explain that the use of animals should be restricted unless there is an assurance that their wellbeing will be guaranteed at all times during the experiment. Besides, with many people, and especially the researchers pointing out that the modern world is civilized, it is only proper to ensure that animals are handled responsibly and their lives valued to ensure that future generations get to experience the beauty that they bring out in nature.
A recent report by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed that 92 out of 100 drugs that passed tests in animals failed when they were administered in humans (Gluck and Holdsworth 394). Clearly, with such a large number of failure, it is apparent that the use of animals in drug research is a futile exercise. In this context, those opposing the use of animals in research have been quick to refute claims that animals help in the development of human drugs. They argue that the use of animals in research should be banned because the results they yield often mislead the people (New England Anti-Vivisection Society). In some instances, the use of drugs that have passed tests in animals yield harsh results that affect the people that take them negatively. Apparently, this is a valid claim that ought to be reviewed given the seriousness of the facts that it presents. However, considering the facts from previous reports and findings regarding the use of animals in research, the claim should not be used to entirely restrict the use of animals in research. It is imperative that the conditions being studied are reviewed to avert instances of developing drugs that can affect humans negatively even after passing tests in animals.
Those who oppose the use of animals in research raise the claim that the world has developed to be able to develop various interventions without necessarily using real life subjects such as animals or humans. The use of animals in research is viewed as archaic and backward considering the fact that people have developed technologies that can accurately simulate various instances in which tests can be conducted. From this perspective, the use of animals ought to be replaced by the modern technologies, an aspect that is considered more reliable and effective than the use of animals. According to those who oppose the use of animals in research, the currently available technologies are more effective and generate largely accurate results than those that animals generate (Lyons 359). However, the technologies are lifeless and there have been reported instances when such technologies have yielded equally wrong results when their results were adopted in solving various biological challenges. It is important that every case is studied and its merits considered when deliberating on whether to use animals for research or not. Therefore, the calls for the ban of using animals should be reconsidered so that all available options are explored and used in an effective way that will enable the realization of positive outcomes.
The Ethics for Using Animals in Research
The use of animals in research ought to be controlled by a strict code of ethics to ensure that the rights of animals are respected and guaranteed. It will be wrong for researchers to expose animals to dangerous conditions without having a justification for such an action. Apparently, the natural laws of nature demand that people develop empathy and compassion to all animals that live in the world (Raman 497). Therefore, it is important to ensure that there are guidelines that control the use of animals in experiments and other studies aimed to solve specific biological or social challenges. In this regard, the legality of using animals for research ought to be informed by the fact that some stringent ethical guidelines are observed every time animals are to be used in specific research causes.
The primary ethical condition that any researcher aiming to use animals in their studies and inquiries must abide by is to ensure that the suffering of the intended animal is at its minimum or eliminated entirely (Hajar 42). It is apparent that the animals that are used in research undertakings suffer and in some cases die out of the effects of the research activities that they are exposed to by those conducting the experiments. The researcher must guarantee that the animals that they will use in their research will not be exposed to suffering and pain while helping develop results that will, in most cases, benefit humans. Therefore, it should be a strict ethical requirement to ensure that animals are protected from suffering, pain and death during the cause of conducting a research venture and experiment.
It is also important that there is established in the ethical guidelines of using animals for research that only in the event that no other ways of attaining the intended objectives will an animal be used in a scientific experiment. Currently, the world of science has adopted and initiated the use of many technologies that can simulate specific events and possible interventions to enhance the attainment of specific results. In this modern age, there are computerized apparatus and equipment that can be used in the place of animals to determine the way various biological and scientific problems can be addressed. Every other available option should be considered before taking up the resolution of using animals for research purposes, and when such an action is adopted, the concept of justice should be maintained in the research exercise (Smith, 2014). The aim of this intervention is to ensure that the animal option is the last one on the list and it should be resorted to only if there is no any other way that the intended results can be obtained.
The Way Forward on Animals in Research
The current paper notes the concern that has been raised in the topic of using animals in research. Apparently, it has been clear that some researchers end up mistreating animals in the name of research. It has also been documented that animals face immense suffering during the research sessions. However, there are many more cases in which animals have been used in research in a responsible and ethical way to yield positive results that have changed the way people and animals deal with biological and social challenges. Therefore, instead of initiating a blanket ban on the use of animals in research, it is important that an agency be established that will be regulating the practice of using animals in research exercises. A total and complete ban on using animals for research could be detrimental to the efforts being established to address some modern challenges.
It is important that governmental and private agencies work together to ensure that animals receive the best available protection in the event that they are used in research ventures. Law-making institutions should develop statutes that will help control the way animals are used in research exercises. Private entities and the non-governmental organizations that commit to protecting animal rights should push forth with the demand of all animal rights to be respected. However, such agencies should be keen enough not to campaign for a blanket ban on the use of animals in research activities. Clearly, the use of animals in research should be kept at the minimum and be resorted to only when there are no other possible ways to address a specific research question. Therefore, animals can be protected effectively only if there are stringent measures taken to ensure that the researchers who use them protect them from suffering and death during the undertaking of their research activities.
As a measure to minimize the use of animals in research activities, governments should establish legitimate and powerful agencies that will monitor the research activities that may require the use of animals in research ventures. The main role of such an agency will be to investigate the available options in the event that a researcher makes an application to use a specific animal in their research undertaking (Watkins 580). It will be role of that specific agency to register the researchers that will have applied to use animals in their research activities, the methods that the researcher will employ and the guarantee that the animal that will be used in the research undertaking will be protected from all forms of harm and suffering. It is also important that such agencies set up a specific amount of money that researchers will need to pay as the fees for using animals in the research activities.
The individual researchers also have a large role to play in the quest of enhancing the ethics in research undertakings that involve animals. It is important that individual researchers commit to protecting the rights and life of animals in their experiments. The researchers are required to abide by the regulations set aside to protect the plight of animals in research ventures. The larger society also has a role to play in deterring the mistreatment of animals during research activities. The society should rebuke researchers who mistreat animals and advocate for the protection of all animals so that the world live up to the meaning the civilization tag that modernity emphasizes.
Conclusion
It is apparent that animals are irreplaceable and vital research subjects. Researchers have used animals previously and the results of their studies have enabled the development of breakthroughs that solved the many challenges and problems that made life difficult for human beings. However, there is concern that animals may be mistreated during research undertakings. It is the responsibility of every person to ensure that animals are protected from suffering and mistreatment during research undertakings. The calls to ban the use of animals in research undertakings are misled and unfair considering the benefits that man has realized by using animals in research in the past years. Therefore, it is important to reconsider the stance on banning of using animals in research and instead advocating for the adoption of new techniques of research while listing animals as the last resort.
Works Cited
Britton, Delny. "Research Involving Animals: The Case for Cutting Edge Ethics". Homeopathy 103.1 (2014): 65. Web.
Festing, Simon and Robin Wilkinson. "The Ethics Of Animal Research. Talking Point On The Use Of Animals In Scientific Research". EMBO Rep 8.6 (2007): 526-530. Web.
Fisher, Mark. "Is There A Need For A More Expansive Use Of Ethics And Values In Reflecting On The Use Of Animals In Scientific Research?” Animals 4.4 (2014): 643-656. Web.
Grimm, David. "Use of Regulated Animals in U.S. Biomedical Research Falls to Lowest Levels on Record". Science (2015): n. pag. Web.
Hajar, Rachel. "Animal Testing And Medicine". Heart Views 12.1 (2011): 42. Web.
John P. Gluck, and Mark T. Holdsworth. "FDA Releases Draft Guidance on Regulation of Genetically Engineered Animals". Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 18.4 (2008): 393-402. Web.
Koralage, N. "Creator of Dolly the Sheep Applies For Therapeutic Cloning Licence". BMJ 328.7447 (2004): 1036-0. Web.
Lyons, Dan. "Protecting Animals versus the Pursuit of Knowledge: The Evolution of the British Animal Research Policy Process". Society & Animals 19.4 (2011): 356-367. Web.
New England Anti-Vivisection Society. "Limitations and Dangers | Animal Use in Research".Neavs.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 4 Aug. 2016.
Raman, Rajiva. "Use of Animals in Scientific Research and Education". Proceedings of the Indian National Science Academy 80.2 (2014): 497. Web.
Smith, C. (2014). Confronting ethical permissibility in animal research: rejecting a common assumption and extending a principle of justice. Theor Med Bioeth, 35(2), 175-185. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11017-014-9290-8
Watkins, P. E. "Standards for the Use of Animals in Surgical Research". British Journal of Surgery100.5 (2013): 580-581. Web.
