Animal testing is an important issue because more than 100 million animals in the US suffer and die from chemical, medicine, nutritional and cosmetic experiments each year. In biological science, animal testing is common. A lot of animals are taken to laboratories to test different medicines on them. I believe that animal experimentation is dangerous and cruel because during experiments animals can feel severe pain or even die.
One reason to eliminate animal testing is that animals have rights, just like humans, and these rights are abused when they are used for scientific purposes. Animals are kept like captives when they are taken for an experiment. A lot of animals across the country like rabbits, rats, cats, and dogs, etc are kept in cages. They see other animals going through the pain and they feel depressed and scared. Sometimes they can develop behavior like biting themselves, spinning in circles, and pulling out their own fur. They sit there and wait to see if they will be free someday or maybe wait for their turn to go through the pain that other animals went through. Tom Regan, a philosophy professor at North Carolina State University, states: “Animals have a basic moral right to respectful treatment. . . .This inherent value is not respected when animals are reduced to being mere tools in a scientific experiment”. In this quote, Tom Regan says that animals have a moral right to be respected and have freedom.
Another reason is that animals have to go through so much suffering when the medication and toxins that cause pain are inserted into their body. For example, there are two most frequent harmful experiments in the laboratory. Draize and LD50. Both tests are really risky and cause animals often die. In the Draize test, the chemical or product is put into the eyes of animals and then they monitor if the animal has damage in any tissues of the eyes. These examinations are really painful and often lead to blindness and death. LD50 is a test in which a large amount of chemical or test product is put into the animals until they die. This experiment is really painful for animals because sometimes it can take weeks to die. Animals have to suffer from vomiting, diarrhea, and many other illnesses. Some people say that animals don’t experience pain the same way that people do”The American Veterinary Medical Association defines animal pain as an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience perceived as arising from a specific region of the body and associated with actual or potential tissue damage”. There are also a lot of dangerous surgeries that are done on animals. These surgeries are really painful and risky. Organ transplantation, open-heart surgery were developed by using animals.
Some people might argue that testing animals leads to cures and procedures that save human lives. I must refute this argument because animal life is just as important as human life, and it is selfish to kill animals to save people. Humans, too, are animals. If people want to live openly, so animals will want freedom. They have emotions, but they do not show them as humans do. “Research by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) has found that our furry relatives may share many of the same emotions that humans experience in everyday life. … Though animals cannot express their feelings linguistically, researchers have found that like humans, their emotions can be expressed through actions”. Animals can express their emotions through different actions depending on what kind of groups they are from.
Testing on wildlife is unsafe. This causes the death of many animals because of the harmful compounds that are used for the experiments. There are many other methods to test many different pharmaceutical goods without using animals. The solution to this issue is that you can follow the three R’s: “Replace, Reduce and Refine” to make the experiments less painful. Replace means using an alternative method that does not involve animals. Reduce means minimize the use of animals as much as possible. Refine means reducing suffering and improving animals’ living conditions. In conclusion, since animal rights are being violated, animal experimentation should be abolished.
Work Cited
https://www.lonestar.edu/stopanimaltesting.htm
Dear Arooj,
I am very supportive of your post, “ Is Animal Testing Ever Justified?” I agree with you because there are other alternatives to experiment that could help save animals. I think that it is inhumane when animal testing occurs to benefit human wants and needs.
One sentence you wrote that stands out to me is, “ Another reason is that animals have to go through so much suffering when the medication and toxins that cause pain are inserted into their body.” Not many people consider what the animal might be going through when testing occurs. Often animals take weeks of being experimented on and are experiencing pain after pain. Some may say they are numb to the pain but, how do they know what they feel?
Thanks for writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next because I like your opinions regarding what we can do to prevent animal testing. Even though animal testing benefits us, it is not morally right to test because animals have a right to live.
Valarie G.
Hi ArooJ, I have a question for you, would you rather save another species life, or save your own species. Let’s just say that there is a humanity wiping virus that can end someone’s life within two hours, and it can spread by the air and water while able to infect a cell indefinitely, other words, it can’t expire. And you with a team of virologists found this new vaccine. Would you risk killing a human or an animal?
Dear Arooj,
I really agree with your opinion that not to use those poor animals with the materials for an experiment. Because those animals are also a life that can live on this earth, and we don’t get any allowances from them, and we cannot get any allowances from them either. Also, we need to save those lives, and it sounds very cruel when I hear using those rats or whatever animals that are used to experiment. I like this article, Arooj. Keep your work.
Dear Arooj,
I am also very concerned about animal testing, and I am very happy that there is someone that stands up for animal rights. Animals are a part of our society, and they have a right to live, and we have no right to test them. On the other hand, some parts that were contradicting were that animals were a part of the most amazing discoveries in human history. For example, thanks to animals, Louis Pasteur was able to find a vaccine for rabies, and many other scientists and doctors were able to create amazing results using animals, which made us who we are right now. However, I have to agree with you that animals also feel pain when syringes are inserted inside their bodies, and it is selfish to only think of humans instead of animals. Finally, it is most concerning that animals are locked up in cages, without any freedom. This is like being in jail where there is no space and you don’t know if you are going to die and live. Mostly, since animals can’t speak to humans and can’t say their own feelings, in those parts, animal testing should be banned. Thank you for your great article.
Sincerely,
Jessica
Dear Arroj,
Arroj I definitely agree with your article because it’s very wrong to treat animals as an experiment. They are also living things like humans and they have the right to live. Anyway I hope this kind of unfair world changes one day and thank you for your awesome article Arroj!
Dear Arooj,
As I read the story, I felt that there are two different issues involved regarding animal testing. First, no one would disagree with the cruelty of its nature. Second, people would hardly give up on animal testing regardless. You pointed out three reasons to stop animal testing. Animal testing violates animals’ rights to live their lives. Animals feel pain. Lastly, it is selfish to take advantage of the lives of animals for the sake of humans. They were all great reasons to let go of animal testing. However, I wonder if the day when the whole world is free of animal testing would finally come. I’m sorry to say but I doubt. The reasons why animal testing continues are that it works and that mankind could not find other effective alternatives to replace it. I do believe that animal testing is unjust. However, science and technology must provide the world with the foundation to assure the safety of humankind without animal testing.
Vivian
Dear Arooj,
This information is pretty interesting and I really liked your article. I found really interesting your point of view concerning animal testing. To be honest, I have a neutral point of view concerning animal testing. I feel like your opinion is well supported by actual facts and I feel like this is a topic that opens up for future discussions. I would encourage you to read about the pros of animal testing just for you to gain more insights on this topic. I would love reading another article about the cons of animal testing and absolutely loved the way you presented this idea.
Dear Arooj,
I really enjoyed reading your article! I really liked some of the points you brought up because some of them you don’t nefariously think of when hearing animal testing. The point I found interest is about animals having emotions and what the testing could do to them. We are basically using them to see if the products will harm us in any way, which is putting the animals directly in harm’s way. I think that animal testing is wrong and should not be happening. Nice work.
-Katie
Dear Arooj,
I clicked on this article because animal testing is a big debate going on in the world right now and I am very interested in it. It was very interesting to read your article and I agree with your points about why animal testing is cruel. So now I will talk about my opinion on this. While I do agree that animal testing is very cruel for animals, I think that we really can’t do anything about animal testing because there are no alternatives. First of all, we, humans, have successfully reproduced and developed our technology enough to be the dominant and strongest species on planet Earth. Nature functions in a way that the stronger species(the predators) take over the weaker species(the prey). In this case, human beings are the strongest species, and we earned this position by continuously developing our technology. So, because this is just the way that nature functions, whatever we do to the weaker species are justified. When it comes to these types of issues, I always like to think of this as the same thing as animals hunting for each other. In the process, animals bite off each other, rip off the skin, and kill each other. And that’s totally justified because that’s just how animals live. Since we are animals too, this is just how we live. Now, I understand that our actions can be considered far more cruel than animals hunting each other because, in the case of animal experiments, we are not using them for a food source. Even aside from the fact that we earned our position as the strongest species, we need to think about our lives as well. If we do not have any animal experiments, we will not be able to develop appropriate medication for serious diseases. We can see this in the recent COVID 19 pandemic. If animal experiments are banned, nobody will be able to develop a safe vaccine. Imagine having to live with this outrageous pandemic forever without a vaccine. Lots of lives were lost because of the recent covid situation, and I think these people’s lives also need to be respected. So, here’s the choice to be made: are the values of animals’ lives more important, or are the values of human beings’ lives more important? Of course, everybody’s opinion can be different, but I choose the value of human beings’ lives. We are all one human race, and we are a team. It is necessary for us to help each other live our lives successfully and safely. I don’t think it is ethical to disrespect the value of human beings just for animals’ lives. Consider this: all human beings originated somewhere in the middle of Africa; yet, many countries in Africa still remain as countries with poor medical care. My point is, we are completely disregarding the importance of our human race, especially from our ORIGIN(which is pretty ironic). Just because we live in safe environments and we can receive enough medical care, it doesn’t mean that other people can have appropriate medical care as well.
Animal testing is a key step in vaccine production as it tests the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. Safety is important. If we accidentally develop a vaccine that is unsafe, we can kill millions of lives. So here’s another choice to be made: is the life of one animal that died while vaccine testing more important, or are the lives of millions of people more important? I strongly believe in Utilitarianism(maximized benefit for the majority), so I think that the lives of millions of human beings are way more important.
So, the vaccines would never be developed. If vaccines were never developed, human beings would have completely failed by big issues like SARS, Ebola, MERS, Zika, Influenza, or COVID. But here’s what’s even more interesting. Without the ability to do animal testing, we would not have any medication for “simple” diseases like catching a cold. So, with simple diseases like the cold combined with extreme pandemics, we wouldn’t even be here now.
So, that’s why I strongly believe that animal testing is justified.
But that was just my opinion and everybody’s opinion can be different.
To wrap up, even if I had a different opinion, I really enjoyed your article because it was very detailed with various good examples and reasoning.
Dear Arooj,
I read your article about your opinions on the incorrect justification for animal testing. I truly acknowledge it since it may be a convenient and acceptable method for some of us, however, if you think of it as an animal, it will go through painful progress. When I went through your article, I learned that more than 100 million animals in the US suffer and die from chemical, medicine, nutritional and cosmetic experiments each year. Just like humans, animals are likely to have adverse and health effects if they use unproven medical drugs or products. I hope, in the future, animals will be in a position to earn more rights and protections. I really enjoyed your writing. Thank you!
Jenny
I agree that people shouldn’t use animals as their experiment. However, I think that if it weren’t for animals, the author of this article wouldn’t have been living a happy life with no worries about viruses. So, I agree that we shouldn’t use them. However, if we aren’t going to use them or humans, what are we going to use? I think that the article should have been written down with what people are going to use if they didn’t want animals or humans to risk their lives.
Dear Arooj,
This article definitely expressed how significant it is to know and to respect animal rights. When reading, I pondered a lot, as you brought up topics that aren’t mentioned as much as they should be. For instance, I truly appreciated that you mentioned how animal testings can lead to queer behaviors such as biting themselves and pulling their own fur out. This gave me a great insight on how much power humans have, and what happens if we don’t use that power in a circumspect manner. I totally agree, but I also think that animal testing are sometimes essential to prevent the extinction of our species. For example, scientists test vaccines on mice, which is a sad fact, but I would say that is something necessary to test if a vaccine is safe for humans to use. I respect your opinions, and it would be. much more humane if we find a better method of testing medicine in the future. I look forward to the day when young people can close this controversial topic once and for all with a more efficient method.
Apple
Dear Arooj, I was very inspired by your text about the flaws of animal testing. I didn’t know it was such a topic that we can go into so deeply, and made me question, and ask myself so many thoughts. Moreover, this is a very big topic people tend to argue about, but I am glad that you brought this topic up, and alert others about animal testing, others’ opinions, and especially stating your opinion without losing confidence. While reading the text, I agreed with most of your thoughts and facts you have listed, but I also think animal testing reduces harm to humans, like us today. However, I do agree that there are way too many people that tend to waste precious life on just our daily life chemicals. This is just my opinion, and I understand if you have some rebelling points about this comment. Thank you for writing all of this very necessary information, and for alerting others about this topic that everyone should know about, and should be aware of.
Sincerely,
Julie 🙂
Dear Arooj,
I had to click on this article as soon as I saw the headline. I have always thought that testing on animals was bad and is animal cruelty, after reading your article, I feel that way even more. I also agree that testing on animals is very very unsafe. I don’t even want to know how many animals have died due to experiments. Animals do have feelings, just like us humans. I think that your writing was very powerful and important. I think that animal rights need to be more enforced and taken seriously. Every life on this earth is important, life can’t be taken lightly. Sure, we need vaccines and cures, but I think that humanity is better than this and can come up with a new way to test the vaccines. I really think you did a great job on your article, and I think more people should know about this concern.
-Sophie
Dear Arooj,
I was really inspired by your article. I always thought that animal testing is necessary, since it helps us to develop vaccines and medical technology. After reading your article, I was very shook by the quote, “If people want to live openly, so animals will want freedom. They have emotions, but they do not show them as humans do.” I feltl guilty for all the good products I’m currently using. The products were tested by animals, and I thought that as a usual thing. However, I never knew it would be this serious. I really respect you how you changed the views of many people reading this article. I think you exceeded to tell the world about the flaws of animal testing. I was really touched by your article!
Sincerely,
Isabella
Dear Arooj,
I really agree with your article. I definitely think that animal tests should come to an end. As you said, animals have rights and they shouldn’t always be used for testing where there are possibilities of death which makes alive animals live shorter. Moreover, you said that animals want freedom which is true! People don’t want to be locked in a cage and live their lives which is the same for animals. In my opinion, I think we have to definitely reduce animal testing since many animals are being tested over the world. However, I think we few animal testing because to make vaccines like right now, we should first see if the vaccine will work and then test it on people.
Ryan
Dear Arooj,
I am very grateful that you brought this topic up and let everyone know. I realized how animal testing is common and how rarely people bring this topic to awareness. However, I partially agree with your idea. It’s true that it’s cruel and unhygienic for us to use animals as a test subject. I understand that animals have feelings and thoughts too, they also get scared and depressed just like you said. But aren’t everybody trying to survive in this world? I understand those testing animals and using them for survival is a massive difference but scientists need to test in some organism that is similar to humans. I’m sure that even the scientists thought about this unsanitary decision. I think to test on an organism to see if the composition actually works or not is much safer than testing it directly on humans. I might be thinking inaccurately though. Overall, I was very interested in your writing!
~Niha
Dear Arooj,
I definitely agree with you there is a lack of animal rights in the society. Testing on animals that are alive and have sensation of pain just for the benefit of humans is not right. I really liked how you actually mentioned this severe topic that people are ignoring in the society. I think that more people should recognize that animals and humans are both living and have the same rights. Thank you for writing an article about such important topic!
– Annie
Dear Arooj,
I’m very contented that you have decided to bring this topic up. It’s not mentioned as much as it deserves since people don’t realize that many of their everyday products are tested on animals, I gotta admit, even I forget that somtimes. Bringing harm to innocent animals for our own good is cruel and should be reduced throughout the globe. Thank you for spreading awareness regarding unsafe chemincals and substances being injected into animals, I agree with your idea that animals are equal to humans. These animals deserve their own ways of life, just like us. I will definately bring your article into consideration by attempting to follow the three R’s. Regardless, I was wondering in what ways we can prevent animal testing, but still harmlessly be able to test certain products to make sure it is safe for the public? Is there a harmless method that can replace animal testing? I look forward to researching further about this topic to answer those questions myself.
Sofia
Dear Arooj,
This article really made me feel the importance of respecting animals and their rights. This is a really controversial topic, and I appreciate that you wrote about it and brought it out into the light for others to notice. I partially agree with your ideas, but I believe the opposing idea of having to use animals to help save humans is also important too. Is it that different from eating other animals for our own needs? It may be cruel, but it is needed for our own species, similar to how animals in the wild kill other animals for survival. This is just my opinion, and I respect your opinion, too. Again, thank you for writing this fantastic article.
Minori
Dear Arooj,
I am very impressed with your topic of animal testing because I feel the same way as you animals need to be protected and not harmed. Using them as research subjects are cruel they deserve to be treated with respect just like any other lifeform. Some sentences that stand out for me are ¨Some people might argue that testing animals lead to cures and procedures that save human lives. I must refute this argument because animal life is just as important as human life, and it is selfish to kill animals to save people.¨ I believe this is important because Animals suffer every day they may even be suffering right now as you read this so we need to protect animals not be monsters to them. Thanks for your writing. I look forward to seeing what you write next because This topic was really interesting for me. Keep doing a good job Arooj.
Sincerely Gerardo
Dear Arooj,
I really liked your article and of how you brought about the animal test subjects having emotions. Testing on animals may or may not be morally justified but I do think that testing on animals is a necessary cause. I think this because, lets say for example there’s a medicine the researchers are testing on animals that could potentially cure a disease that’s killing humans, to me a human life is worth more than a rats. This is just my opinion thought.
Thank you for your writing I really enjoyed contemplating on this topic.