The Important Part of Animal Testing in Medical Advances

The Important Part of Animal Testing in Medical Advances

  • Submitted By: belkin300
  • Date Submitted: 11/19/2008 10:51 AM
  • Category: Science
  • Words: 1607
  • Page: 7
  • Views: 2

Animals have been used for research since there has been research itself. It has been one of the most debated topics of our times. Many people argue that it is unmoral to test products of any kind on animals, while many scientists believe that animal testing and experimentation is one of the only ways that they can discover many medical or other unique breakthroughs. Experiments of animals have been an important part in many key medical advances, including the development of antibiotics, vaccines, and surgical techniques. On the other hand, the critics of animal testing base their argument on the grounds of morality, the necessity or the strength of this procedure, whether proper authority to perform such tests is granted, whether such tests are actually needed and whether such tests provide us with any useful information. Many medical procedures also have to be tested for safety in animals before even being tested in human beings.
Animal rights activists argue that animals have a right to their own life and that they are not ours to do with as we please. According to PETA, “As many as 115 million animals are experimented on and killed in laboratories in the U.S. every year. Much of the experimentation-including pumping chemicals into rats' stomachs, hacking muscle tissue from dogs' thighs, and putting baby monkeys in isolation chambers far from their mothers-is paid for by you, the American taxpayer and consumer, yet you can't visit a laboratory and see how the government has spent your money. You can't even get an accurate count on the number of animals killed every year because experimenters and the government have decided that mice and rats and certain other animals don't even have to be counted.”(PETA Media Center) This is inhumane and cruel to animals and they do not deserve to feel this kind of pain. Even though there are many laws and regulations, many institutions and universities are still using animals in testing today. According to the...

Similar Essays