Animal Testing and Unnecessary Cruelty (Proposal for Research Paper)
For centuries, human beings have treated other living creatures as simple objects. Using their superiority as an excuse, society believes that animals do not experience suffering and that they do not deserve to have rights. As Mahatma Gandhi, Indian activist, notes, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Nowadays, animal testing is unnecessary with all the technological advances. However, most laboratories are still experimenting on animals and making them live in constant pain. It also should be noted that animals are used for mere entertainment; these creatures are physically abused to perform stupid tricks (Scutti). They are taken away from their natural habitats to be prisoners in cages too small that they barely can move. Therefore, the use of animals for unnecessary, cruel experimentation and entertainment should be banned.
The ethical treatment and testing of animals has always been a controversial subject. Animal testing is also known as vivisection. First of all, in cosmetic testing animals are forced to ingest toxic chemicals and are exposed to painful procedures such as dripping synthetic substances into their sensitive eyes or skin. In the end, these test results do not guarantee that it will be safe for public consumption because humans react differently to chemicals than other species do. The second aspect of vivisection is animals used for advances in medicine. Ages ago, a scientist used animals to study the basics of anatomy; then these studies evolved into pharmaceutical drug testing. Without a doubt, animal experimentation has been crucial to the development of medicine. Nevertheless, replacing animals with modern techniques, such as using computer models as well as epidemiological studies, can give us better and more effective results (Daly). Lastly, animals are used for entertainment; all the tricks that animals perform are acquired by psychical abuse with whips, bullhooks, chains, tight collars, muzzles, starvation, among others. If people want to observe animals, they should try safari parks where visitors can observe freely wild animals.
“Animal Testing: A Long, Unpretty History” is the title of one of the articles related to this controversial topic which provides a short history of animal testing. Susan Scutti shows the benefits of the experiments in animals, and at the same time, she presents the solution to reduce the impact of research on animals: reduction, refinement, replacement. In addition, the Humane Society International, an animal protection organization, wrote on their website a blog about cosmetic animal testing and their scientific limitations. This blog notes that “the results from the animal test may not be relevant to humans, and also it can be quite variable and difficult to interpret.”
Years ago, animal testing would have been understandable and justified by the fact that humans needed it for the development of science. Nowadays, with all the technological advances, this situation is entirely different. Animal testing is unreliable and unnecessary. Countries are joining the European leaders for a global end to cosmetic animal testing. Scientists have demonstrated that modern methods such as human cells or computer models are better at predicting how drugs and chemicals affect humans. Moreover, animal abuse in the entertainment industry is well documented. There are numerous reports that show beyond doubt the primitive conditions that animals are living. As society advances technological and ethical so do animals’ rights, and the unnecessary, cruel experimentation and use of an animal for entertainment could be banned soon.
During the process of carrying out animal testing and research, the animals undergo painful protocols that can range from the testing of new drugs to an infection of animals with fatal diseases. Additionally, the skins of the animals are burnt, and this really hurts the creatures. Animal testing can lead to the damage of the brain of the innocent creatures. From the records, in each year in the United States of America, animal cruelty has been found out to be more than 25 million cases of animals that are used to carry out the tests on drugs and other cosmetic products. Some of the animals that are involved in this unethical activity are the rats, sheep, chimpanzees and many more animals. However, the majority of the animals that are used for this exercise are birds and mice.
The reason why this cruel treatment of animals needs to end is that the animals undergo the pain on a daily basis. While they are in the laboratories, they undergo the tests in the barren cages. This denies them the chance to make a choice or to express the natural behaviors that are crucial for their wellbeing. There are very facilities that enable the animals to experience outside caging and typically, the animals are rotated while on those confinements. Therefore, the animals have limited time to stay outdoors as the other animals. This is really frustrating because some of the body processes for animals require that animals are exposed to sunlight and the fresh air. The standard conditions that are maintained in the laboratories, for example, the loud noises, the cages that are too crowded, insufficient or lack of enrichment, and even very bright lights create a lot of stress on these experimental animals, which can lead to adverse effects on them. For example, mice able to experience empathy and they feel stressed whenever they experience other creatures being mistreated. This elevates the levels of stress in these animals.
Some of the laboratory procedures that are applied to the animals while in the cages are unbearable. For instance, anesthetization and euthanasia, which need a high level of training to perform them are very painful. When the procedures are carried out in an appropriate manner, there is a high likelihood that they will make the animals uncomfortable. Additionally, the procedures lead to extreme pain. In other experimentation procedures like xenotransplantation, a high degree of suffering is imparted on these creatures in the laboratories. The processes destroy a considerable amount of the body of the animals, for example, transplanting the tissues and organs from one animal species to another involves numerous mutilations that are painful. When a scientist opts to use an agent that is purported to cause paralysis on an animal, the animal experiences a lot of pain but it cannot move because the cells have been deactivated.
There is usually a promise for the protection of the animals while in the laboratories. For example, the animal welfare act is the federal legislation that was implemented to keep watch of the treatment of the animals while in the laboratories. However, this has been a rhetoric because the relevant authority that is concerned with inspection of the laboratories for compliance with the law is not functional. Moreover, the law does not cover the other aspects of animal treatment while in the laboratories, it only overlooks the issue of animal husbandry.
According to the latest research findings on the AWA, a considerable number of animals that are covered by this act underwent painful treatments while they were in the laboratories. This suggests that there is a vast gap that is supposed to be done to end the cruelty to animals. In the current law governing this practice in the testing laboratories, pain relief administration is very discretionary, and hence, it is not mandatory (Gardiner). This is much attributed to the fact that the extent of suffering of the animals is grossly misrepresented. This is because there happen to be no objective criteria that are put in place to offer a correct perception of the suffering and pain endured by the animals.
In order to stage the fight against this vice of testing using animals in the laboratories, it is imperative to understand that the rights of the animals are infringed when these creatures are utilized to accomplish the research tests. Tom Regan states that “The animals possess an elementary ethical right to treatment that embraces respect. So whenever the animals are used in testing of substances, the inherent value is not upheld in respect (Orlans 26).
Animals are like people and therefore, they ought to be treated in the same manner. Another thing worthy realizing is that the tests and experiments that the animals are subjected into is not of any benefit to human beings. The testing of the cosmetic products is not necessary. There are many options that can be used to test the products and which are ethical. Many cosmetic industries have opted already to use the testing methods for their products without the intervention by animal subjects (Orlans 26). For example, there is one cosmetic company called Body Shop that is located in London, which uses the natural compounds to test the cosmetic products. This is an appreciable effort that needs to be embraced by the rest of the firms that are involved in this unethical behavior of animals testing.
It is also important to ban the testing of drugs in laboratories using animals because animals are very different. In the process of anticipating to solve a problem, for instance, treatment of particular human disease, false impressions of the body reaction to that drug may be arrived at. For example, the way a monkey’s body reacts to drugs is not the same way the human body may react to that same drug that has been developed. Essentially, there are many differences between the brain structure of the monkeys and that of human beings.
The popular belief that animals testing is right since it involves sacrificing of animals to make the products that are beneficial to human beings should end. This assumption fails to consider the safety of animals and the quality of life that the animals lead. Therefore, it is not justified. In an article, entitled, “Is Your Experiment Really Necessary”? Sheila Silcock, states that animals need to benefit from the experiments. Also, she adds that the value that is put on the lives of these creatures is based on the value to human beings. Therefore, improving the lives of human beings should not be the sole basis for cruelty against the animals (Silcock 32).
There are many ways that will set the society in the right pace to abolish animal testing. Fist, people should stop buying products that have been associated with animal cuelty.as it has been pointed out in the above discussion, animal cruelty is something that has taken very deep roots in the society in many applications ranging from cosmetics to human medicine. Even though the results of this practice seem to be beneficial to some people, there are other products that have been developed, similar to these, which have been as a result of compliance to animal rights. They should be bought only. It will help to discourage the animal testing.
Educating people about the cruelty that animals go through in the industries will also help to curb this menace. This is practical since knowledge is very powerful. Moreover, the society needs to seek assurance that the donations that they make do not go to funding an evil in the community. Therefore, this means that whenever a person sponsors the development of various drugs and cosmetics, they should seek assurance that animals will not be used in a cruel manner to achieve the goals.
Observing these and viable procedures will make the fight against animal testing a success. Therefore, it is important that people should make wills that their bodies will be used for such research when they die. This will be a good decision because no pain will be felt the dead human body. Furthermore, it will show a great correlation with the practical developments that will foster the advancement of the industry associated with human medicine.
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