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Alyssa Vaccaro

Mrs. Barnes

English 112

10 May 2017

The Truth About Animal Experimentation

A survey conducted out of fifty students showed that twenty-three supported animal

experimentation and twenty-seven did not. As a highly debated topic, some think animal

experimentation is needed, while others find it unnecessary. The way animals are tortured to the

point of death shows just how wrong it can be. Animal experimentation is a cruel and inhumane

way to advance modern medicine and test new cosmetics.

One of the main reasons why animal experimentation is unethical, is the way animals are

treated in laboratories. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has calculated that over 100

million animals each year are killed while testing chemicals, drugs, foods, and cosmetics in U.S.

laboratories (People). An alarming number of animals have been taken from this earth due to

suffering at the hands of scientists. Even worse, their death is not quick. They are poked,

prodded, and even poisoned till they reach their breaking point. One of the most common

experiments used it the lethal poisoning test. Under this experiment, animals are force-fed

increasingly large doses of a chemical until they die (Dillon). Somehow, people look past the

torture and the pain the animals go through. For the ones who arent killed immediately, they are,

held in sterile, isolated cages, forced to suffer disease and injury, or euthanized at the end of the

study (Results). Treated as test subjects, they are locked up and caged, as if held in a pet store.

Except that this pet store ends in their death.

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Pain, torture, suffering. These animals go through a great amount of testing, and its not

worth it. Animals and humans are, so physiologically different that the results of animal studies

are always unreliable (Dillon). How a drug works on an animal can have a completely different

effect on humans. An example of this is Acetaminophen. While the drug is therapeutic for

humans, it has the opposite effect on cats. If a cat comes into contact with Acetaminophen it can

be fatal (Results). We waste the lives of helpless animals on inaccurate data. Admitted by the

U.S. Food and Drug Administration, of all prescription drugs that are determined in tests to be

safe and effective for animals, 92 percent are found to be either unsafe or ineffective (Dillon).

That means only eight percent of data is reliable. We keep testing and testing, but for what

purpose? The use of animals does the human race no good.

Since animals have been proven to be unreliable, there must be some other way to still

perform experiments, and there is. As technology continues to advance, scientist have invented

many alternatives to animal experimentation. Some of these include, human clinical studies,

cadaver studies, high-power computer simulations, and studies that track the origin of diseases

and how they spread (Dillon). With the use of new technologies that we have today, there will

no longer be a need to use animals. Scientists are using lab grown models of all kinds to test

toxicity of many consumer products. Before these inventions, scientists would, pump

potentially hazardous chemicals into animals' stomachs, lungs, and eyes (Dvorsky). The pain

that would have been put on animals is now placed on non-living models. The future holds a

numerous amount of possibilities, and given the rate of technological advance, there is nothing

stopping us from being able to gather awfully accurate data with simulations (Dvorsky). We will

be able to gather more reliable information than ever before. All of the data will come pain-free,

and the animals we love will no longer be needed in experimentations.

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As time goes on, many people hope to see a change in the way we treat our animals.

Placed under harsh conditions, they are not given much of a chance to survive. Starved and

broken, these animals dont deserve the way they are treated, especially since humans receive no

good from it. Instead of wasting their lives, we have the power to use different options and to

substitute the lives of animals with advancing technology. Therefore, the use of animals in

examining the products we use should come to an end.

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Work Cited

Dvorsky, George. "Technological Alternatives Can End the Experimental Use of Animals."

Scientific Research, edited by Sylvia Engdahl, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing

Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010

948227/OVIC?u=mass12242&xid=ceffd2da. Accessed 10 Jan. 2017. Originally

published as "Can Technology Help Us Put an End to Animal Experimentation?"

io9.com, 5 Sept. 2012

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "Medical Testing on Animals Is Cruel and

Unnecessary." Medical Testing, edited by Nol Merino, Greenhaven Press, 2014.

Opposing Viewpoints. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/d

oc/EJ3010895214/OVIC?u=mass12242&xid=9b94cf32. Accessed 10 Jan. 2017.

Originally published as "Animal Experiments: Overview,", 2012

"Results from Research on Animals Are Not Valid When Applied to Humans." Scientific

Research, edited by Sylvia Engdahl, Greenhaven Press, 2015. Opposing Viewpoints.

Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ3010948221/OVIC?u

=mass12242&xid=39d4c24b. Accessed 3 Jan. 2017. Originally published as "Problems

with Animal Research," www.aavs.org.

Dillon, Bridget. Personal Interview. 28 February 2017.

Vaccaro, Alyssa. Animal Experimentation Survey. Survey. 02 March 2017.