Animal Testing Essay

How many of you have pets at home? Now, how would you feel if your pet was kept in a small cage without interaction with other animals? What if researchers shaved your pets fur off and then doused them with harsh chemicals to see if their skin will blister and burn? Or if you had a rabbit and chemicals were poured into his eyes to test the irritancy of the chemical? (Rhetorical Question). The chemicals burn like fire. (Simile). Remember that your rabbit does not have tear ducts and cannot wash the chemicals out. Now, imagine the feelings of pain, anxiety and suffering, both physically and psychologically that these animals endure every day, only to soon be killed so researchers can study their brains. Sad, isn’t it? This is the harsh reality of animal testing, a controversial issue in today’s society. Animal testing affects you in many ways including the development of medical treatments and if you have pets in your home. I believe that animal testing should be prohibited. In order for you to understand more about animal testing, I will explain the debate, outline my reasons for supporting the prohibition of animal testing, and conclude with action you can take if you also disagree with animal testing. In order for you to understand more about animal testing, it is important to know what animal testing is. Animal testing is the use of non human animals in experiments, including mice, rats, rabbits, dogs, many species of monkeys, and others. The testing that is done determines the effect that a product will have on humans. There are many different tests done in many facilities around the world. In the United States, there are some guidelines that help protect the animals, including the Animal Welfare Act. Supporters of animal testing are people who believe that animal testing is necessary. They would argue that since animal testing has contributed to many life saving cures and treatments, that animals are appropriate test subjects. They would also argue that alternative methods are not adequate and not needed. They believe that the Animal Welfare Act as well as other rules and guidelines are enough to protect the animals from mistreatment. And finally, they believe that animals do not have rights, which makes it acceptable to test on them. People in opposition to animal testing can argue the same points. They would argue that animals do not make good test subjects for many reasons, adequate alternative methods do exist, animals are not protected from mistreatment, and it is not right to test on animals. Animal testing does concern you. I believe that animal testing should be prohibited for multiple reasons including that animals do not make good test subjects, adequate alternatives do exist, animals are not protected from mistreatment and it is not morally right. First, animals do not make good test subjects. Their body systems are very different from the human body and they react differently than a human would to certain chemicals. Examples of differences in reactions would be that drugs that cure cancer in mice work minimally in humans. This is because the tumors in mice originate in different tissues than tumors in humans, which causes the cells to behave differently (Dawn, 216). Mike Leavitt, Health and Human Service Secretary tells us “...nine out of ten experimental drugs fail in clinical studies because we cannot accurately predict how they will behave in people based on laboratory and animal studies” (DeMello and Williams, 175). Because of the differences in animal and human body systems, researchers can also potentially overlook cures and treatments. The differences in body systems causes problems with safety of drugs for humans. 94% of drugs that pass animal tests fail in clinical human trials (“Animal Testing”). A famous example of this would be in the 1960s when a drug called Thalidomide was released. Along with its release came multiple reports of years of animal testing. It was given as a sedative to

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