Have you have ever had the flu? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5-20% of the US population contracts this illness each year. Isn’t it nice that, when the symptoms get excessive, medications are available to treat you? Well, before animal testing, this was not an option. Animal experimentation is a huge controversy in today’s society among both scientists and citizens in general. Many people argue that it is unmoral to test products of any kind on animals, while many scientists argue that animal testing is just about the only thing that can lead them to the discovery of new medical or other unique breakthroughs.
There are many pros and cons to this topic, and a great deal of support for each side, however, after an extensive amount of research, it is clear which side comes out on top. Animal testing may not be ideal, but with the technology that we currently have, it is absolutely vital to the health and well-being of both humans and animals. Let us begin with why animal testing is such a necessity. According to The California Biomedical Research Association, for over one-hundred years, nearly every medical advancement was made possible by animal testing.
It made the discovery of Insulin possible, which has proven to be absolutely crucial to the survival of diabetics, and, according to the World Health Association, animal testing has also led to the discovery of the polio vaccine which took the worldwide occurrence of polio from 350,000 cases in 1988 to just 223 cases in 2012. In addition to these life-changing advancements, animal testing also provided us with pacemakers, cardiac valve substitutes, anesthetics, organ transplants, and the list goes on. Even though animal testing has proven to save millions of ives, there are still many opponents to it who demand that we find alternative methods. The sad truth is that, at this time, it is impossible to totally replace animal testing with other means. Scientists are legally required to use alternative methods such as computer models, tissue and cell cultures, and a number of other approaches whenever possible, but, because of the complexity of the human body, these alternative methods are unable to fully replicate it and determine the effects of the experiments.
These facts clearly show the importance of animal testing, but let’s now discuss some of the arguments against it. Foremost, many argue that it is cruel and inhumane; well, first, animal testing is not always as cruel and drastic as the media displays it to be. Actually, animal experimentation is the most highly regulated activity involving the use of animals. The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee must approve all procedures first, and ensure compliance to the rules and regulations put in place by the Animal Welfare Act and The Public Health Service Policy on the humane care and use of animals.
According to the Pennsylvania Society for Biomedical Research, the majority of procedures involve no pain or discomfort for the animal at all, and may only require visual observation on behavior, changes in diet, or a single injection or blood sample. Animal care staff and veterinarians are always there to provide clean food, water, and a comfortable living environment to stimulate their natural behaviors. According to a journal called “Nature Genetics,” animals that are stressed or crowded do not produce precise results, therefore it is actually in the researchers’ best interest to treat them humanely.
In comparison with the US’s animal food market, the amount that are being experimented on is actually relatively small. According to animalresearch. thehastingscenter. org, we, as Americans, consume nearly 9 billion chickens and 150 million cattle, pigs and sheep per year. In comparison, the 26 million being used for animal testing is quite small. We consume more than 1,800 times the amount of pigs that are being experimented on and we consume more than 340 chickens for every research animal out there.
The next argument that I would like to address is that animal testing is inaccurate due to the differences between animals and humans. According to California Biomedical Research Association, chimpanzees share 99% of their DNA with humans, and mice are 98% genetically similar to humans. All mammals share the same set of organs that function in basically the same way with a bloodstream and a central nervous system. It is said in an article called “‘Zoobiquity’: 7 Diseases Animals Share with Humans,” on abcnews. o. com, that because of the similarities, animals are susceptible to many of the same conditions like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes; this makes them wonderful research subjects and much more accurate than computers. The final argument that I will be addressing is a big one: the Children of Thalidomide. In the 1950s through the 1960s, Thalidomide was invented to help pregnant women with morning sickness, but sadly led to the death or deformity of countless babies.
Because this drug was tested on animals, many argue that this proves that animal testing does not work; however, back then, experiments were not always performed properly, in this case especially. Thalidomide was not tested on pregnant animals. According to pro-test. org. uk, after the consequences were discovered on humans, the tests were immediately performed on pregnant animals which showed birth defects amongst a wide range of species. If these tests had been performed in the first place, the tragedy would have never happened. This shows a need for more animal tests, not less.
If it would be banned, more tragedies like this could occur in the future. In conclusion, animal testing may not be perfect, but I hope that you can now see that it is absolutely vital to the future of our society. The number of lives that have been saved by animal experimentation is unfathomable, and some of the arguments against it are definitely valid; however, if you are for the survival of our race, the arguments for it outweigh them by far. There are so many cures left to be found and so many safety measures left to be taken that it is absolutely vital that animal testing remains an option.
