Animal Testing Should Be Banned Essays Examples
Type of paper: Essay
Topic: Animals, Animal Testing, Testing, Human, Medicine, Pain, Humans, Experimentation
Pages: 5
Words: 1375
Published: 2021/02/06
Animal testing also known animal experimentation is a process whereby non-human animals are used to conduct experiments. There has been an increase of animal testing in the field of biomedical research. Due to this, animal testing has become an extreme controversial topic that has created a division among different groups, of those who are supporting the process and those who are opposing. Therefore, there are ongoing debates about whether animal testing should go on, or it should be banned. Some groups argue it is ethical while others insist that the process is unethical, and there is a last group advocating for alternatives to the testing other than the use of animals. Animal experimentation should be banned since it is an unethical process that subjects animals to so much pain. In addition, it should be banned because, it is inaccurate, unreliable, and its benefits to human beings have not yet been fully confirmed by the current research.
Animal testing should be banned because it is an unethical process. According to statistics, about 128 million animals which include guinea pigs, cats, rats, dogs, frogs, dogs, mice, monkeys, and rabbits are being used for experimentation (Michael and Parker 98). Animal testing causes a lot of pain and suffering to these animals during the experimentation. Before the experiments, the animals are locked up in unventilated cages without any food as they wait for the testing. In addition, these animals are forced to inhale lethal or toxic fumes, and this makes them languish in pain as they wait for the terrifying procedure to be performed on them. According to Stoddart and Jeffrey, some animals are even skinned alive or drilled holes into their skulls during the process, and this is painful and inhuman (390). Therefore, this process should be banned because it is unfair to subject animal top such pain and condition. It is important to note that, just like humans, animals have sentient and can experience pain, therefore, why subject them to such pain knowingly? Since animals do breathe, eat, and even reproduce just like human beings meaning they are living things with feeling, they should be treated like living things. Most humans consider it wrong to inflict pain on other human beings, why are they not applying the same to the animals since they are also sentient. Animals deserve to be treated in a humane way because they are conscious and responsive just like humans, and this can be done by completely banning animal testing.
In addition, animal testing should be banned and declared unethical because all living things have a value and for that reason, they are worthy of respect. It is morally wrong to treat animals like objects to further knowledge. All animals are living things, and they deserve the right to live free from pain and suffering, just like human beings. The animals used for testing are innocent and defenseless creatures who should not be subjected to the pain they go through, because some of these experiments are not even beneficial to human beings as alleged. Most animal experiments are always done by biology students or those in medical training, meaning at times; these tests are not beneficial to anyone. During the time of the experimentations, these animals are locked in laboratories and cages without caring about their sentient (Stoddart and Jeffrey 391). Therefore, even though there is the need for advancement in our biomedical field, we should not subject our animals to a painful process in the name of research, yet the process is unethical.
Animal testing should be completely declared immoral and banned because there is no confirmed research on its benefits to human beings. It is obvious that, animals are physiological, metabolically, and anatomically different from human beings, therefore, they will react differently from human beings. Consequently, how can results from animal experiments be reliable and work on humans yet they respond differently? These tests can fail on humans because of the anatomic and metabolic difference. And using them for experiments so as to use the same experiments on humans is very wrong. Let us stop this cruel procedure to animals because deny them an ordinary life yet, it is not yet proven that after the process is done on animals; it can work well with human beings (Lund et al. 430).
In addition, the main reason for animal experimentation is to come up with a cure for some diseases or to test whether some cosmetics are good enough for human use. This is impossible because, how can one prove that a substance that works on animals can work with humans yet they are anatomically different? There is no recorded evidence that a substance used on animals can safely work on humans. According to Lund et al., most studies that were done on animal testing revealed that, those tests that are successful on animals end up becoming harmful to human beings (440). Therefore, it is dangerous to trade the life of a human being with a test that has been done on an animal because animals and human beings are very different. What is safe for animals cannot be said to be safe for humans, and this makes the process of animal testing detrimental to the human health. As a result, this process should be banned because, animals and humans are different, and we cannot count on using tests done on animals, yet they are being killed mercilessly.
Why animals should be subjected to so much pain yet, there are alternatives to animal testing, for instance, in vitro cell culture, and in silico computer simulation. Animal testing should be banned and alternative ways of testing because they are available and can come out with accurate results for human use. It should only be acceptable if and only if the pain and suffering on the animals are lessened. In addition, it can also be recommended if there is sufficient research on its benefits to human beings and it can only be possible through animal testing. However, animal testing remains an unethical process that should be supported. We should at least have respect for animals and stop subjecting them to so much pain in the name of experimentation. Animals just like humans have a conscious, and this should be respected. Otherwise, it is vital to use the alternative methods of testing other than torturing live animals.
Conversely, proponents argue that, animal testing is needed because; it helps in the advancement of biomedical knowledge. Their primary argument is that, animal experimentation has led to progression in medical knowledge and without it; there could be no medicine in the world today. According to Gad, animal testing has led to finding cancer treatments, and vaccines for debilitating viruses and a number of diseases (102). Furthermore, those in support claim that, animal experimentation is important because it ensures the safety of products, for instance, cosmetics for human use because they are first tested with animals. However, their arguments are overblown and misleading because, this process remains unethical because of the procedure. In addition, even animals and human beings are very different anatomically and metabolically. Therefore, we cannot be confident that what can work well with animals is also safe for human use. Nonetheless, even if we agree with them that it helps in medical advancement and has helped in finding cures and vaccines for a number of conditions, there are alternative methods. Moreover, the procedures used during the experimentations are inhumane and if there are alternatives, why subject these animals to so much pain? Therefore, animal testing should be eliminated, and alternative methods used in the field of biomedical research. When we adapt to the alternative methods of testing, we will be able to save millions of animals that are being innocently and mercilessly killed during animal testing. Animal experimentation is an unethical procedure that should be banned because it causes stress, pain, and deaths to the animals. It should be abolished because the reaction of drugs human beings cannot be the same on animals.
In conclusion, there have been numerous concerns and controversies on the subject of animal testing. There are groups who term the process as unethical while others see it as a safe procedure to advance in medical research. Many people are for animal testing because they believe it will help in medical achievements and if the animal pain during the process is reduced. However, animal testing is an unethical process that should be banned worldwide. All animals, non-human or human have moral rights, and they should not be subjected to so much suffering in the name of experimentations. Although medicine and science are credible grounds worthy of research, this does not justify unwarranted brutality on animals. Animals are sentient just like we humans are and for this reason, animal experimentation should be stopped to save our animals from this inhumane process. Banning animal testing does not put an end to the advancement of medical research, but it is a wake-up call for scientists and researchers to find a better and ethical way to conduct these studies. To sum up, animal testing is an unethical, expensive and unreliable process that should be banned. And now that there are alternative ways of medical research testing, there is no excuse to continue torturing animals; all governments should totally ban animal experimentation.
Works Cited
Michael, Conn P. and Parker, James V. The Animal Research War. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. Print.
Stoddart, Gilly, and Jeffrey Brown. "A Campaign to End Animal Testing: Introducing the PETA International Science Consortium Ltd." Alternatives to laboratory animals: ATLA 42.6 (2014): 387-393. Print.
Lund, Thomas Boker, et al. "Painful dilemmas: A study of the way the public’s assessment of animal research balances costs to animals against human benefits." Public Understanding of Science 23.4 (2014): 428-444. Print.
Gad, Shayne C., ed. Animal models in toxicology. CRC: CRC Press, 2014. Print.
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