Scientific Con Essay Draft
Aleena Bilal
02/22/22
Professor Matias
Eng 21003 Scientific Controversy Paper Draft Topic: Animal Testing
Animal testing is a term that most people are familiar with, but they may not understand exactly what it entails. Animal experimentation, whether referred to as animal testing, animal research, or animal research, refers to animal experimentation. For many years, one of the most widely debatable topics has been experimental animal testing. Animal testing is utilized in the development of a wide range of products and applications. Animal testing can take place anywhere, from a university to a military defense facility, as long as there is a need for product testing. Cosmetics, chemicals, and everything in between will all be put to the test. Many individuals oppose animal testing. They believe it is cruel to animals because they have no say in the situation. People who support animal testing argue that it enables the testing of prescription treatments and therapies.
Many people believe that animal testing is necessary and shouldn’t be banned. According to Standford Medicine, animals are still important in several fields of biomedical research for understanding the causes, diagnosis, and remedies of disease and suffering in humans and animals. Animals are used in research for a variety of reasons, including their biological similarities to humans, according to the article. In addition, mice and humans share more than 98 percent of our DNA. Animal models, which have a shorter life cycle than humans, may be researched over their whole life span and across several generations, which is crucial in
understanding how a disease develops and reacts with a whole, living biological system. According to Stanford, rodents such as rats and mice, specifically bred for laboratory use, account for 95 percent of all animals used in biomedical research in the United States. Stanford researchers must also guarantee the well-being of the animals in their care, according to the strictest of standards and following federal and state laws, regulatory rules, and ethical values. They must also keep up to date with the latest information and findings in the field of laboratory animal care.
In the article “The Debate on Animal Experimentation” by Sather Health, they believe that some pros to animal testing are its medical advancement and product safety. They believe that animal study can help save countless human lives. Animal testing has already resulted in the development of insulin and hepatitis C vaccinations, as well as open-heart surgeries, coronary bypass surgery, and heart transplantation procedures. Because many animals, particularly mice, share over 90% of their genetic make-up with humans, testing on them can offer scientists a fair understanding of what can happen in the human body. Animal testing has also resulted in discoveries in veterinary medicine, so new drugs can benefit animals as well. Many researchers have had an advanced in human health because of animal testing. In the article by FBResearch, they state that animal testing and research have benefitted anyone whose ever taken medicine or had medical treatment. One example can be cholesterol. According to the article, high cholesterol is a major contributor to heart disease and stroke. Crestor and Zetia, the second and nineteenth most prescribed medications in America, were tested on mice, dogs, and rats, respectively, while Zetia was also developed using rabbits and monkeys. Statins, which are used to decrease cholesterol and maintain cardiovascular health, were developed using mouse, rat, and rabbit models. Another example could be diabetes. Insulin is required for all people with type 1
diabetes, as well as some people with type 2. Without dog research, the finding of insulin might not have been achievable. Beginning in 1893, dogs were essential in determining the role of the pancreas, eventually leading to the discovery of insulin and its successful injection in humans in 1922. James Collins revolutionized diabetes treatment by successfully using insulin in dogs and later people after first measuring blood sugar levels in rabbits. Since then, mice have been used extensively in diabetes research. Mice with type one diabetes were implanted with new insulin-producing cells, which successfully cured them. Researchers have recently been working on an insulin shot that would last a month instead of the weekly or daily shot that people with type 2 diabetes are made to take. The shots have been shown to manage glucose levels in monkeys for more than 14 days. Because monkeys and mice have higher metabolisms than humans, the shot is likely to be effective for a month or more in humans. Diabetes affects a large number of pets. Diabetic dogs and cats are becoming more common in the United States, but diabetic animals can be addressed with the same insulin and tablet drugs that help human diabetics. According to the article, animal research is assisting in improving the daily lives of diabetes, humans, and animals, with improved therapies assisting in preventing the disease’s devastating effects.
While there are many pros to animal testing many people think animal testing is harmful and not necessary. According to “Save the Animals: Stop Animal Testing” by Lone Star College, even though animal research aids humans, the pain and suffering many animals have to go through is not worth the potential health benefits. Animal testing includes inhaling harmful gases from mice and rats, force-feeding toxins to dogs, and dropping harsh substances into rabbits’ sensitive eyes. Even though a product is harmful to animals, it can still be sold to the general public. In contrast, just because a product has been proven to be safe in animals does not
mean it will be safe in humans. (Peta Health Article ) In the data table that I found regarding the number of animals used in research in the US in 2019, the highest number of animals that got tested that year were the guinea pigs which was 23 percent.
According to Lone Star College, they believe that animals should not be used for research or to test products for the sake of their safety. The article states that animals and humans are similar in many aspects, including how they feel, think, act, and react to pain. As a result, animals and people should be treated equally. However, when animals are utilized in research, their rights are compromised because they are not given a choice. Animals do not willingly give up their lives in the name of improving human wellbeing or developing new technology. Because they are unable to express their own choices, their choices are chosen for them. When humans decide on the future of animals in laboratory studies, their rights are snatched away with no regard for their well-being or quality of life. Lone Star College believes animal testing should be prohibited since it violates animals’ rights. Animals are exposed to experiments that are frequently painful, cause permanent harm, or result in death, and they are never offered the choice of opting out of the experiment. According to Humane Society International, most of these animals are frequently subjected to force-feeding, deprivation of food, getting burns or wounds to study the healing process of a certain experiment, and many more. ( ProCon.org Article ) The Draize test and the LD50 test are two of the most widely used toxicity tests, both of which are notorious for inflicting severe pain and suffering on experimental animals. The Draize test has been blamed for being unreliable and wasting animals’ lives. The LD50 test is used to determine the amount of a drug required to kill 50 percent of animal subjects in a given amount of time. Researchers achieve this by attaching the animals to tubes that continuously pump massive doses of the test product into their stomachs until they die, which can take days or
even weeks. During this time, animals frequently experience vomiting, paralysis, convulsions, internal bleeding, and diarrhea. Euthanasia is not employed because death is the goal and is essential for the study to be completed.
While animal testing does have its pros and cons many researchers have thought about ways animal testing could be stopped. According to Sentientmedia article, “Why Do Humans Still Experiment on Animals”, believes that the first step toward ending animal experimentation is to raise public awareness about what it involves. Many people are unconcerned about the suffering that animals endure. Alternative options for testing chemicals and medications should be studied and employed, as animal testing is not the sole choice. In addition to spreading the news, people can avoid buying animal-tested home cleansers, deodorant, feminine hygiene products, or makeup. There are a lot of cruelty-free and anti-animal-testing brands out there, particularly in the beauty industry. According to Peta Research, one strategy to help halt animal testing is to pressure government bodies to stop sponsoring and conducting animal experiments and to encourage pharmaceutical, chemical, and consumer product firms to replace animal testing with more effective non-animal techniques. Some examples include assisting students and instructors in ending classroom dissection, sponsoring ethical non-animal research, and lobbying health charities not to invest in dead-end animal experiments.
Sources Used:
https://sentientmedia.org/why-is-animal-testing-bad/ https://www.lonestar.edu/stopanimaltesting.htm https://animal-testing.procon.org https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~sather/the-debate-on-animal-experimentation/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4594046/ https://med.stanford.edu/animalresearch/why-animal-research.html https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/79005.html
