Date of completion - Jan. 13th, 2021
Animal testing has been going on in early medicine, since 384 BC . Animal testing is an experiment in which an animal is forced to undergo pain to get a scientific result, in which case, medicine is tested. The species used includes mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, cats, dogs, monkeys and so on. Currently, more and more people are feeling strongly about it on both sides. Some people may say that animal testing has contributed to many life-saving cures and treatments. While others may argue that animals are appropriate research subjects because they are similar to human beings in many ways, with monkeys 99 % similar to humans. However, even with these advantages, animal testing must be banned because of the rights of the animals, lack of efficiency of this method and the cost involved.
First of all, most people don’t consider the rights of the animals used for testing. Animals should have rights too as they are also lives and can feel pain and emotions. Even if they can’t talk or communicate with humans, that doesn’t means that they don’t mind being used for animal testing. If humans don’t want to be used for testing, why should animals? All living creatures should be equal, so animals are not exceptions. Monkeys are as intelligent as a three-year old child when they come to solving problems. When they are being used to test medicine, people can say that a three years old child is being tested. People definitely won’t test a child, so monkeys mustn’t be tested either. Animals are far more useful than to test medicine on. They help us a lot, so they should be equal to humans. Dogs are man’s best friend. They can serve as guide dogs and rescue dogs, and smell diseases. They also make us happy in films. Some dogs can even save our lives. For example, in December 2013, a blind man named Cecil Williams was standing in the New York City subway station when he fainted and fell onto the tracks. His guide dog, a black Labrador retriever named Orlando, jumped onto the tracks and barked loudly so that other people in the subway would notice what had happened. There was a train headed toward them. But with Orlando standing on top of Cecil, the conductor saw them in time to attempt to stop the train. Both Cecil and Orlando were hit by the slow-moving train, but they only received minor injuries. If not for Orlando, Cecil would have been hit at full speed and most definitely would have been killed. If they are being tested, people can make the connection that their best friend is being tested.
Secondly, animal testing doesn’t always work. For example, animals are not completely the same as humans. Although monkeys are 99% similar to humans, they are still different in 1% and that can cause a difference. In 2006, six men took a drug (known as TGN1412) in a clinical trial at Northwick Park Hospital in London, which caused life threatening and disastrous side effects in less than 2 hours ,including organ failure and brain swelling . The same drug had previously been given to monkeys at a 500 fold higher dose. The monkeys showed no ill effects and the drug was therefore considered safe.[4] Also, animal testing may also take a long time. Some diseases may already being infected by people when they are born and they might show symptoms not until they are very old; animals are the same. With the time needed to test animals, people might die because of not having the medicine.
Last but not least, the cost involved in animal testing is gigantic. Animal tests are more expensive than alternative methods and are a waste of government research dollars. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) found that $56.4 million of government funds spent on animal experiments that, despite running over many years, failed to provide any useful results. However, if people use bacteria for testing, the cost will be much less. People only need to pay for equipment and bacteria of the organ the medicine is used for. In animal testing, people need to pay for the animals, food, shelter for the animal. That means more money. So it is obvious that bacteria testing is better and more efficient. Many people believe that animal testing is important for human species to survive. In some cases, this is true. For example, people could fall in danger if there wasn’t any animal testing. The writer Sun agrees with the fact that most of the cures and vaccines today are results of animal tests. Moreover, it is believed that animal testing is beneficial even for animals and as animal vaccines are developed from animal testing. But, animal testing has never been a solution. It would be much more beneficial if scientists could work on computer modeling, a virtual modeling system used to check toxicity tests and more accurate than animal testing, in replacement for animals or use bacteria.
All in all, animal testing should be banned considering the right of the animals, the efficiency of this method and the cost involved. If there is a better way, it should be used, as people need to consider the feelings of animals, even mice because they are also living creatures. There is a better way, which is cheaper, faster and that is using bacteria. I believe that animal testing should be banned and people should feel the same way.
Works Cited
[1] "10 Incredible Rescues By Dogs That Will Warm Your Heart." Listverse, 7，July，2019,listverse.com/2017/01/26/10-incredible-rescues-by-dogs-that-will-warm-your-heart/.
[2]"Animal Testing and Medicine." PubMed Central (PMC), Jan. 2011, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3123518/.
[3]Animal Testing, 9 May 2019, animal-testing.procon.org/.
"Cruelty Free International." Cruelty Free International |, www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/why-we-do-it/what-animal-testing.
[4]H, Attarwala. "TGN1412: From Discovery to Disaster. - PubMed - NCBI." National Center for Biotechnology Information, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21042496.
[5]Symcox, Jonathan. "Monkeys As Smart As TODDLERS." Mirror, 31 Oct. 2014, www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/monkeys-smart-toddlers-scientists-say-4544589.
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