Why Is Animal Testing Necessary

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Animal experimentation has been used for centuries, but became popular in the late 1800s (Scutti, 2013). Animals such as mice, rats, rabbits and even dogs and cats are used to test cosmetic as well as medical products. Their treatment is often inhumane but the experiments are seen as inevitable as they can prevent human deaths. To what extent is animal testing necessary?
Tests are performed to guarantee the safety of customers. They help ensure products are safe as well as advance medical research. A current day example is that scientists and researchers are looking for cures to dementia and cancer with the help of animal experimentation. They are testing a promising drug to find if there are any side-effects (Anderson, 2015). If a cure is found there would be huge benefits to individual families as well as the greater
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The first step one that comes to mind is the unethical treatment of animals that occurs at the laboratories. There are very few regulations on the treatment of laboratory animals in Canada. There are also lots of problems that are not commonly thought about. Animal experimentation has a negative effect on the environment. “Over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused in US labs every year” (dosomething.org, 2015). This means that there is a large amount of bodies have to be disposed of which is unnatural for the environment. Testing on animals also costs taxpayers lots of money. Funding is needed to setup and maintain the facilities as well to pay for the animals basic needs like food. In addition, animal tests are not very effective. Animals do not react to chemicals and products the same way humans do. Reports show that 92 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal tests fail in humans (Peta, 2018). That means that testing on animals is highly ineffective for the prices that the animals, environment and taxpayer