When people think of modern day medicines, vaccines and cosmetics they do not picture how they get out to the public. Animals are treated brutally when it comes to animal experimentation. Researchers act as if there is an unlimited amount of animals to test on. Thousands of animals are injured and killed due to tests that may not be effective for the future. Animals do not have a choice as to what happens to them, but humans have the power to make life for other beings just as great as theirs. In the articles, “Medical Testing on Animals Is Cruel and Unnecessary” by Noël Merino, “Replacements Must Be Found for Animals in Scientific Research” by Hope Ferdowsian, and “Animal Testing Is Bad Science” by Noah Berlatsky they incorporate the ideas of how animals are treated wrongfully during animal experimentation. While one may think that testing on animals is necessary for advancement, they fail to see that animal experimentation provides no benefits for humans in advancing medicine or contribute any advantages for animals. Therefore, pushing scientific boundaries is not necessary for advancement because animals are not biologically similar to humans and for this reason, do not provide cures or medicines for humans, put animals through intense pain and torture,while causing them to become emotionally damaged.
Animal testing has taken over the science world and does not provide any type of medicinal cures which therefore is not necessary for advancement. Numerous amounts of tests have been done to try and find cures that may never be found if they continue to be done on animals. According to the Merino, it states: “We have cured mice of cancer for decades, and it simply didn’t work in humans.” (2). This clearly demonstrates that with the amount of testing that is done on animals to find a cure for an on-going problem like cancer, it does not provide any benefit for humans. Knowing that animals vary within each other, scientists should realize that is not logical for a cure that works in rats will work in humans. Cancer is an enormous topic that requires an immense amount of research where medical professionals have looked to animals for an answer to this ongoing problem. However, there is still no evidence to prove that they help. Since animals do not contract these diseases on their own, these artificial diseases do not match the ones that humans may get along with being biologically different to humans. Medicines that cure animals does not necessarily mean that it has an effect on humans. Media emphasizes the fact that testing on animals can help find new medications and help discover new ideas which is not true. Merino also points out that, “Ninety-two percent of drugs—those that have been tested on animals and in vitro—do not make it through Phase 1 of human clinical trials (the initial studies that determine reaction, effectiveness, and side effects of doses of a potential drug) (2).” When new medicines are cleared for human testing, it does progress into much more. The biological factors of making a medicine for an animal is not the same for humans. The only ways to get effective research is to use test subjects that are the biologically closest to humans. With this evidence, the anatomy of the animal and humans do not correspond with one another resulting in ineffective medicine. With the amount of time that it takes for a medicine to get cleared for human trials, a new medicine can be put out by using more effective methods of testing. It is clear that there are little to no benefits when trying to find medicines for humans by testing on animals.
Animal testing is not ideal for humans and animals; they continually suffer and become miserable, therefore makes it unnecessary for advancement. Testing methods that are used on animals is comparable to the way that humans can be tortured. Berlatsky notes, “The only U.S. law that governs the use of animals in laboratories—the Animal Welfare Act—allows animals to be burned, shocked, poisoned, isolated, starved, forcibly restrained, addicted to drugs, and brain-damaged (2).” supports the idea that there are no limitations as to how animals can be treated. Animals are crucial for the world to function and as this testing continues to drag out, animals are being hurt. These dangerous ordeals that animals have to endure will not provide any benefit for humans so, they should no longer continue. The life of an animal does not include being taken from the wild and have scientists do a series of tests until their death. According to “Replacements Must Be Found for Animals in Scientific Research”, “They immersed the animals’ tails in hot water, used radiant heat on them, attached a binder clip to their tails, injected irritants into their feet, induced bladder inflammation with a chemical that causes painful cystitis in humans, and injected acetic acid, causing the mice to develop abdominal constriction and writhe (Ferdowsian 1).” This identifies the different obstacles that rats face constantly and should be obvious to the researcher that this amount of pain is not tolerable for any living being. Animals have no control over what is being done to them but, humans can chose to save the animals from these horrible tests. Being put in the place of these helpless animals is unbearable to think about because they are in agony and do not require any type of pain reliever. The animals are not aware of what may happen in their future and by inflicting pain among them does not make their life pleasureable. These experiments can take a toll on their bodies physically, and they are disturbed physiologically as well.
Animals can feel the pain of these experiments, causing a major impact over them emotionally, which is useless for advancement. While humans can become agitated by serious events that occur, this is also apparent in animals. “Replacements Must Be Found for Animals in Scientific Research” discusses, “Learned helplessness, a form of depression that has been described in human patient populations such as victims of domestic violence, has also been identified in rodents, dogs, monkeys, and apes exposed to inescapable shocks (Ferdowsian, 4).” This establishes that particular disorders develop in humans when put in traumatic situations which can happen animals too. When animals are taken from their natural habitat and put in tiny cages, it can leave a mark on them emotionally. These forced experiments leads to major side effects that the animal may be forced to live with forever. Overtime, as these animals are continually put in these extreme situations like, surviving a disease they would never obtain naturally can lead to damaging effects. Ferdowsian proposed, “My colleagues and I have found that many chimpanzees who were used in laboratory research continue to exhibit symptoms of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder years after they have been released to sanctuaries (4).” proves that certain mental disorders are prevalent among animals that are tested on for years. After being observed for quite some time, animals (especially chimpanzees) have adapted to their new way of life. When released into the wild, the chimpanzees need to accustom back to their original ways which may be difficult after the amount of torment they went through. The experiments that take place on animals must be very intense if they leave animals emotionally flawed. Scientists should realize that when their subjects are not functioning correctly, their data will be impaired, specifically when using animals.
Thus, pushing scientific boundaries is unessential for advancement because the anatomy of humans and animals are unrelated and therefore do not provide medicines or cures, make animals experience suffer and pain, while leaving them to internally damaged. The needs of animals are not the same for humans so, experimenting on them does not contribute to any success for the animal and human. The pain that animals have to encounter is not worth finding “cures” that may never be found. Scientists should take the “feelings” of the animals into account because they can be inflicting serious pain on animals. The restricted small cages, disturbs the animals that may lead to lifelong mental disorders. The lives of animals are at risk daily, when these tests continue to become harsher and unbearable. While researchers and scientists continue to act as if their is an unlimited supply of animals to test on, they should realize that in a matter of time animals will no longer be around. Finding new alternatives to animal experimentation is the key for medical experts to find a solution for major diseases.
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