My View On The Reasons Why Animals Should Not Be Tested On
Animals have been used for the testing of many things since the beginning of our time. Recently, a lot of attention has been brought to this subject on whether it is appropriate and humane. While researching this topic, I came across many sources and websites which talk about the ways testing animals is inhumane and should be put to a stop. My goal of this essay is to shine light on this issue and talk about how animal testing not only affects the animals but our ecosystem as a whole.
Most people don’t really understand, in depth, of what animal testing really is. So, animal testing is any type of experiment or testing that forces animals to take part in. Usually these experiments include chemicals and other dangerous objects that can harm the animal in some sort of way. Not only this, but it can also lead to a painful and slow death. Some of these experiments include injecting a harmful chemical into the animal, forcing the animal to take in gases, and exposing them to radiation. Usually at the end of these experiments, they are killed and thrown away.
Many people would say that it is better for the animal to be harmed rather than a human, which I agree with. However, animals are different from humans. Dogs cannot eat chocolate because it is toxic to them but not to us. Our bodies work differently. Animals also do not get some of the disease that humans get such as many types of cancers therefore animals are exposed to a lot of harmful chemicals and experiments to mimic the disease which is not the same as the disease itself. It's useless. Doctor Richard from the US National Cancer Institute states, “The history of cancer research has been the history of curing cancer in the mouse. We have cured mice of cancer for decades and it simply didn’t work in human beings. ” There have also been cases in which drugs that pass with animals are harmful to humans. In the 1950s, a sleeping drug was tested on pregnant animals and the babies turned out fine with no deformity whatsoever but when pregnant women took it, over 10,000 babies were born with extreme deformities.
If there is no greater benefit than why test on animals? There are so many possible alternatives that are more effective, humane, less expensive, and useful. These include test tubes that are based on the human cell. Almost any human cell can be grown in a laboratory and not only does it help save an animal but it is also a lot closer to human anatomy. Another way is using human tissue. Many people donate human tissues whether it be healthy or diseased. You can also use computer models or use volunteers. There are many people that would be a volunteer subject. There are also benefits to not testing on animals. “Traditional animal testing is expensive, time-consuming, uses a lot of animals and from a scientific perspective the results do not necessarily translate to humans”.
As you can see, animal testing is cruel to animals because it causes them stress, fear, and pain and since they cannot talk, it goes against their consent. It is also very ineffective because animals and their bodies are different from humans and our bodies which makes testing useless. There are other alternatives that are a lot more effective and reasonably close to human anatomy.
