Animal Testing Opposition
Living in containment, I finally got taken out to smell the fresh… chemicals. The air is burning my nose and I'm getting propped up on a table. There is a sharp object filled with a liquid and it's coming straight for me. They put me back in my glass box. I'm bleeding and in pain. I don't think this is ever going to end.
This is the harsh truth about animal testing. A life in a laboratory as an animal is no life at all. There is no joy, fulfillment or even quality of life provided for the animals that are force-fed, injected into and forced to inhale mysterious gasses. Adding more to the mix, scientists will sometimes surgically remove animals' organs or tissues to deliberately cause damage as well as induce stress and depression in their test subjects. In some cases, the animal must be killed as part of the experiment. For instance, regulatory tests for Botox, vaccines and certain chemical safety tests are variations of the high-risk, high-reward Lethal Dose 50 (D50) test, where 50% of animals die or are euthanized just before the lethal dose.
In a cruel multi-million industry, most of these animals are bred in laboratories or breeding facilities just for the purpose of animal testing alone, with no chance of living a hopeful, happy, long life. Stray companion animals such as dogs and cats are prohibited in many countries, while horses and other animals like cows, sheep and pigs can be sold by dealers and can come from racing barns or farms for this horrific animal experimentation. Every year, more than 110 million animals are murdered in the United States for either curiosity, experimentation, common biology lessons, drug, food and cosmetic testing.
While a vast majority of people say this is crucial to the development of needs for humans, most animal experiments don't improve human health and the significance of animal testing in most medical developments is debatable. In an article published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, it was found that medical treatments developed in animals were relayed to people and set a warning that "patients and physicians should remain cautious about extrapolating the finding of prominent animal research to the care of human disease…"
Animals induced with diseases are never identical to those found naturally occuring in human beings. With the biological differences between humans and animals, the experiments become even more unlikely to present the results that are wanted or needed when applied to people. A crucial example of this is that researchers and scientists have been able to cure mice of cancer for decades, but that same cure does not pose the same helpfulness in regards to humans and how the human body develops or expels cancer. Other cures were found in various animals for HIV and AIDS, but yet again, yield no result for the human species.
Despite the regulatory measures in place to protect animals from suffering or abuse, countless animals are killed each year inhumanely and tortuously. This is possible because 99% of all animals located in laboratories are exempted from even the minimal protection from Animal Welfare Act (AWA). Many laboratories get around the law as well by searching out species that are not protected by law to provide them with pain relief or care by veterinary teams. Even when facilities are fully compliant with the laws in order, animals who are covered can be shocked, poisoned, burned, starved, forcibly restrained, addicted to drugs, isolated and brain-damaged.
Regardless of how painful or awful they may be, no procedures are prohibited by federal law. Instead of animal testing, there are various ways to expand in knowledge of new products whether it be medical or cosmetic. In place, there are many researches available which use human volunteers which use human cells and tissues, which actually yield a reliable outcome.
Opinion by Chloe Sumner