Pro Animal Testing Essay Example For Students

Pro Animal Testing Essay This theme song to a popular cartoon is a farce dealing with experiments carried out on animals. In the cartoon one mouse is made very smart and wants to take over the world while the other is clearly not as smart. While the cartoon makes jokes, the reality is that mice and other animals re being used for medical tests every day. For some people this testing brings up ethical questions. One of the biggest questions: is it really necessary to take the lives of animals in the name of science and for the betterment of humanity? For animal rights activists, like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the answer is no. PETA pressures labs into halting experiments because they believe that animals are not to be used by humans for food, clothing, entertainment, or to experiment on (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals 1). Its stance is that any testing is painful, inhumane, and unnecessary when alternatives are available. The PETA website says that animals, like humans, have interests that cannot be sacrificed or traded away simply because it might benefit others. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals 2-3). Essentially, PETA is of the opinion that animals and humans should have identical rights. In their press releases PETA puts out pictures of rabbits with open flesh wounds and dogs with rashes on their skinsall in an attempt to disgust people into sympathy for their cause. In actuality the number of lab animals used has been cut in half in the last 25 years (James-Enger 254). Of the animals used, 90 percent are rats and mice (James-Enger 1). Moreover, 11 million animals die each year in animal shelters (Americans for Medical Progress 2) and an astounding 95 percent of the animals that die in America do so from human consumption (James-Enger 254). The reason that animal testing is appropriate is that there are regulations in place to minimize testing and pain, the alternatives are insufficient for now, and most importantly the information obtained from experimentation is irreplaceable. While animal rights groups such as PETA advocate abolishing all animal testing that inflicts pain on animals, proponents of testing cite laws and regulations which minimize pain and discomfort. PETAs position is based on the belief that humans are not superior to animals (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). The vice president of the Humans Society of the United States (HSUS), an animal rights group that is nearly as extreme as PETA, has been quoted as saying the life of an ant and that of my child should be granted equal consideration (Americans for Medical Progress 2). If, as PETA and HSUS say, animal and human life is equal, then putting an animal through any pain is immoral. However, there are laws in place to minimize discomfort and inhumane treatment. The laws limit the amount of distress and pain an animal is subjected to. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the body that governs animal testing, must approve all tests (United States Department of Agriculture 2). The USDA must also authorize the numbers and types of animals experimented on (United States Department of Agriculture 2). Tests can no longer be performed if conclusive data is already available. In 1991 it was discovered that Procter and Gamble had performed experiments on 300 guinea pigs when the data the tests was to obtain was already available (Animal Testing by the Cosmetic Industry 2). This is just one of the situations that newer animal testing legislation would have prevented or at least deterred. A fifty-point criterion for assessing pain is in place (United States Department of Agriculture 3). These points include everything from vocalization of pain to apparent depression. If there is no clear criteria then it is assumed that procedures that cause pain in humans also cause pain in animals (United States Department of Agriculture 50). A Lesson Before Dying Essay Murray, M.D. said, Animal experimentation has been essential to the development of all cardiac surgery, transplantation surgery, joint replacements and all vaccinations (Americans for Medical Progress 1). The numbers to back up this claim are that over 440,000 open-heart surgeries are performed and 11,000 kidneys are transplanted every year, not to mention that animal experimentation has made possible the salvation of 20,000 kidney dialysis patients each year (Botting 1). Also, the ability to test on animals has made possible the relatively safe and successful use of dangerous chemotherapy drugs to treat cancer (Americans for Medical Progress 1). Drugs such as this cannot be tested on humans because of their strength and potential for killing in inappropriate doses. If the proper dosage were not known, the results would be inaccurate and could be lethal. Many antibiotics and vaccines used today were developed and tested through animal research, as were insulin to control diabetes and nearly all modern anesthetics (Botting 1). It is hard to imagine life without some of these lifesaving drugs, or even the ones that do not save lives, just make life a little more bearable. It is likewise significant to note that animal testing has benefited animals as well. When a pet owner takes his or her animal to the veterinarian to receive shots, chances are that those shots are available because of animal experimentation. Heartworm, feline leukemia, rabies, anthrax, and tetanus are all preventable because of animal testing. PETA and HSUS are honorable institutions with admirable goals, but they are over idealistic and overzealous. That fact can best be described by the following quote: Animal rights activists blocked for two years research aimed at stopping transmission of HIV from mother to child. That research ultimately demonstrated how AZT can prevent babies from getting AIDS (Americans for Medical Progress). Sometimes the good of the many outweighs the good of the few. This does not mean that animal testing should go unchecked. Suffering is kept to a minimum by legislation and advancements in testing alternatives. As these alternatives progress, the number of live animals needed for testing will gradually decrease and eventually the need for them will hopefully be eliminated. But in the meantime, animal testing is too important to stop. The benefits waiting to be had are too important and any possible drawbacks are too insignificant to allow a halt in animal research. BibliographyBibliographyAnimal Testing by the Cosmetic Industry. (20 March 1999). Animal Research Saves Human and Animal Lives. Americans for Medical Progress. (20 March 1999). Animal Research Holds the Key to Saving Human Lives. Americans for Medical Progress. (20 March 1999). Ball, Matt and Anne Green, and Jack Norris. Veganism as the Path to Animal Liberation. The Animals Agenda Sep/Oct 1998: 44-45. Botting, Jack H. and Adrian R. Morrison. Animal Research is Vital to Medicine. Scientific American. 187 February 1997: 83-85. D. E. Skin Stand-Ins. Scientific American. September 1990: 168. James-Enger, Kelly. Beyond Animal Testing. Vegetarian Times. October 1998: 254. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. (20 March 1999). 21 Things You May Not Know About the Animal Rights Movement. Americans for Medical Progress. (20 March 1999). U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. Animal Welfare Report Fiscal Year 1997.