Animal Experimentation

This was my final paper for my English class. The assignment was to write about something controversial and then pick a side based on the arguments u chose.

Animal experimentation is a well-known conflict within the United States.  Some people believe that animal experimentation is cruel because it makes animals suffer from pain and possibly death.  People also say that animal experimentation causes animals to be taken from their natural habitats to be put in testing facilities.  Other reasons why people dislike animal experimentation are because it is too costly and also because there are other more accurate ways of testing product safety.  On the other hand, there are many people who would like to have animal testing be legal.  They believe that products would be unsafe without testing.  There has also been many new scientific breakthroughs and medicinal advancements because of animal experimentation.  Many also believe that animal experimentation is more accurate than other forms of testing because animals and people share many physical similarities.  A final reason why people are for animal experimentation is because it aids in veterinary medicine.  A careful examination of the arguments reveals that one position is stronger than the other position.

            Companies test their products in a way that is cruel to animals. “Many . . . companies still pump their products into animals’ stomachs, rub them onto their shaved, abraded skin, squirt them into their eyes, and force them to inhale aerosol products” (Animal).  Neither an animal nor a human would willingly inject a possibly deadly product into his or her stomach.  Tests that use injection into any area of the body are cruel because of the possibilities of pain and death.  These

and many other possible outcomes could also be caused by all other forms of testing.  “When I read . . . puppies . . . drowned in floor drains (. . .), primates . . . dissected while still alive (. . .), or a female sheep that dies with two rotting lambs inside her womb (. . .), these things are . . . tragedies and truths” (“Stop”).  These examples are what make animal experimentation cruel.  These deaths could have been avoided or even done in a humane way.  It is sad to think that most of the animals being experimented on have passed away in such cruel ways.  Then the organisms that were lucky enough to have survived face more physical pain and psychological distress (Animal, “Stop”).  This treatment of laboratory animals is cruel.

            Animals are bred in captivity or taken from their natural habitats, to be tested on.  According to Animal Friends Croatia, “The largest breeding company in the United States is Charles River Breeding Laboratories.” The Animal Welfare Act does not call for any registration or inspection on the companies that breed rodents; this includes Charles River Breeding Laboratories (Animal).  What most humans do not know is that “dogs [,] cats [, and many other household pets] are also used in experiments” (Animal).  Most of these pets are strays or they come from a pound or animal shelter (Animal).  An example would be if there was a person who was struggling financially and had to give up his or her dog.  This person could go forever without ever knowing that the dog might have been sent to a laboratory to be tested on.  There are also many animals that were taken from their natural habitat.  Some wild animals that are currently being tested on include species that are commonly seen as “ugly” (Animal).  They become the test subjects to many of the experiments that are currently being done on animals.

            Animal experimentation should be illegal because it is too costly.  Every year billions of dollars are spent on animal experimentations and the salaries of those performing the experiments.  The government issues many grants to the organizations that perform animal experimentation (“Stop”).  An example of a recipient of some of the grants is Marilynn Carroll (“Stop”).  “Carroll is actually funded through 4 separate grants, totaling roughly $1.1 million annually” (“Stop”).  That is “$1.1 million” that could be going towards education, the military, and other important things (“Stop”).  On the other hand, most experimenters are likely to have a high salary.  Marilyn Carroll is also an example for this because she receives approximately “$200,000 per year” (“Stop”).  There are many people out there who could use the money for greater causes.  Money that should be used on important things, is being wasted because of animal experimentation. On the flip side, the money could also be going to a salary.  These experiments are too costly to perform.

            A fourth reason to why animal experimentation should not be legal is because non-animal experimentation is more accurate.  As written by Animal Friends Croatia, there are “enormous physiological variations [between] rats, rabbits, and human beings.” People are not built to match other animals.  All species grow into different forms.  This could cause major problems because one species might react differently to a product than another species will (Animal).  Another reason why non-animal testing is more accurate is because the biological study of humans is more developed than the biological study of animals that are not human.  Generally speaking, people know more about humans than they do about any other form of life.  This is a problem because the animal being experimented on could have a natural immunity to the product that is being tested.  There are other ways of doing medical research.  An example of one of those ways is by “growing tissue” (Dixon).  This way of non-animal testing proves to be more accurate by the simple fact that the tissue is one hundred percent human, rather than ninety-nine percent human.  Non-animal research is a better way of testing product safety because humans can get a more accurate result.

            The other side of this debate is that animal experimentation should be legal because without it, the products in many homes might be unsafe.  “Before animal testing, humans served as the first test subjects . . .; because of multiple accidents, . . ., the government eventually required drug companies to test new products on animals” (PIR).  The purpose of medicines and household products is to make the lives of people better and longer.  Testing on humans would only put those people at risk for disease and death (Bird).  Having the government test on animals is better than having products tested on humans because it does not put human lives at risk, including the lives of children.  “Information on the effects of the products�"compiled through toxicity testing on animals�"allows treatment to be administered immediately at home” (PIR).  If a child were to ingest a dangerous product, the parents would have the ability to treat the child at home because of animal experimentation.  With the information found from animal testing, poison control centers have speedy access to the ingredient and treatment information for most drugs and household products (PIR).  Therefore, animal testing is needed because it makes products safer for the consumers. 

            Another reason why animal experimentation should be legal is because it helps with the development of new medicines and scientific breakthroughs.  According to the Foundation for Biomedical Research, “. . . practically every present-day protocol for the prevention, control, cure of disease and relief of pain is based on knowledge attained . . . through research with animals.” This statement shows how the development of antibiotics and many medical procedures are related to animal experimentation.  Without animal test subjects, there would probably be many drugs that have yet to be discovered.  Ever since animal experimentation first began, humans have had a greater chance of surviving disease and living a pain-free lifestyle.  Animal experimentation is also leading to many more major scientific breakthroughs.  A recent study has shown that the drug, “rapamycin”, had “delayed aging in . . . mice” (Wade).  With this new knowledge of the drug, someday people might be able to live longer than one hundred years.  This new discovery could also lead to the discovery of new medications and possibly even the cure for cancer. Animal experimentation is necessary for medical and scientific research because more medications that could save lives would be discovered. 

            Since animals and humans are built in similar ways, animal experimentation should be legal because it would not put humans at the risk of being tested upon.  As stated in the article by Partners in Research (PIR), “. . . the complexity of human biology makes it impossible at present to eliminate animal testing.” Animal biology is similar to human biology (PIR).  Testing on animals helps to keep human medical research from slowing or backtracking.  Alternative forms to medical research have not yet proven to be as effective as animal testing because human physiology is more closely related to animal physiology than anything else (PIR).  With animal experimentation, medical researchers are able to get a more accurate result.  The accuracy of the result is due to the many physical similarities that humans and animals have.  These similarities also help to speed up the medical researching process because it allows the researchers to gain more knowledge on reactions and the effects of household products faster.

            The fourth reason to why animal experimentation should be legal is because it also helps save the lives of other animals.  “It is in the interests of animals themselves that experiments be done on animals to test medicines and surgical procedures for using on animals themselves, not just humans” (Dixon).  Animals benefit from animal experimentation because it gives the veterinarians a better on understanding on animal anatomy.  These experiments also test which medication should be given to a certain species.  One species might react differently to a medication than a completely different species would.  Therefore, it would be unsafe to give a drug that has not been tested to another animal because of the effects it might have.  Another reason why animals benefit from animal experimentation is because it gives humans a better understanding of animal behavior (Rosenberg).  With that knowledge, the animals are less likely to get euthanized because it attacked an uneducated human.  Animal experimentation saves animals’ lives because it helps to develop new veterinary medicine and also helps people learn about animal behavior.

            Many animal activists say that there are more accurate alternatives to testing on animals.  With the development of new ways to test product safety, animal activists believe that animal testing should be abolished.  They think that animals should not have to suffer when there are better ways of doing medical research.  However, animal experimentation has proven to be more effective than any other form of medical research (Foundation).  Animals are very similar to humans and it is because of this that “. . . physicians and researchers overwhelmingly agree that animal systems provide invaluable and irreplaceable insights into human systems” (Foundation).  The alternatives to animal research are not as effective because they do not give people as much of those “invaluable and irreplaceable insights” (Foundation).  While cells carry human DNA, they do not have the amenities that a human body has.  Therefore, the results of the research will not be accurate enough for studying.  On the other hand, studying an animal would be almost completely accurate because most animals have features that are very similar to arms and legs.  Animal experimentation is a better form of medical research because it is the closest researchers can get to a human body without having to harm any humans.

            Another reason why animal activists think that animal testing should be abolished is because it is too expensive.  It is true that the government gives out many grants that aid animal research (“Stop”).  Animal activists say that this money should be going towards better causes (“Stop”).  They could even be used to get the economy in a better place.  Since animal testing is expensive, many animal rights organizations forget that they use a lot of money to fund their acts against animal experimentation.  These organizations raise money that they use to pay for commercials, supplies needed to rebel against animal testing companies, ads, websites, and anything else that could promote the cause.  For that reason, rebelling against animal experimentation is also very costly.  The money that is being used to pay for the ads should also be used to aid other important causes.  Therefore, the organizations that fight against animal experimentation could be as expensive as, or ever more expensive than testing on animals.

            Animal experimentation should be legal.  Testing on animals is better because people will not be exposed to harmful chemicals.  No human will have to die.  Household products will be tested without putting human test subjects or consumers at risk of poisoning, brain damage, or death (PIR).  When an animal is being tested upon, scientists should have an accurate reaction to the product (PIR).  Depending on the outcome of the tests, the product could be rejected or put on the market.  Homes would be safer with the knowledge of the effects that certain drugs, household products, or cosmetics have on living organisms.  Another good reason why animal testing should be legal is because scientific experiments have proven that animals and people are built in similar ways.  It would be better to test products on organisms that might have better or more obvious reactions to the product.  Animal experimentation also does aid in the development of veterinary medicine (Dixon).  Without it, there would be no way of knowing which medications are safe to administer to animals.  Not testing on animals would put loved pets at risk of death.  Therefore, animal experimentation should be legal because the arguments are stronger for that position.

            Animal experimentation is still an ongoing battle.  Some believe that it is cruel and immoral, while others believe that it protects the lives of many humans.  Animal activists think that animals are taken from their habitats and that testing on them is expensive.  Those activists also believe that testing on animals is less accurate than the other forms of experimenting.  The people who think that animal experimentation should be legal say that it is costly, but it is also expensive to rebel against it.  They also believe that animals have similar characteristics compared to people.  Overall, the position that is for animal testing is stronger than the position against it because it does not put humans at risk of harm.

Author's Note

PLEASE READ THIS NOTE!!! I know that in the essay I wrote that animal experimentation should be legal, but that is not my true feelings. I strongly disagree with it and would never want to put an animal in danger.