Essay on Animal Rights

Submitted By Operez86
Words: 832
Pages: 4

Running Head: ANIMALS SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR TESTING

Animals Should Not Be Used For Testing
Ashley Hernandez
Esperanza Academy

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Running Head: ANIMALS SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR TESTING

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More than 100 million animals every year suffer and die in cruel tests of chemicals, drugs, food, and cosmetics. In recent years the practice of using animals for biomedical research has come under several criticism by animal protection and animal rights groups
(PETA, 2014). Laws have been passed in several countries to make experimental practice more humane. Animal testing should be banned because animals should be entitled to the rights we have.
Animals are used to understand how human body’s work, to find cures and treatments for diseases, and to test new drugs for safety. Scientists believe that animals’ bodies work the same way as ours. Everyday, thousands of people are saved from painful diseases by medical drugs and treatments. This would not be possible if there weren’t animal testing.
Many people are against animal testing because they claim that it is inhumane to use animals in testing. (AALAS, 2003 ) Animal abuse includes a range of behaviors that cause unnecessary pain or stress to the animal. As humans we wouldn't like this to happen to us.
Researchers should find a new way to test any type of drugs, surgery, or function.
Since 384­322 BC physicians and scientists performed experiment on living animals
(NIH, 2011). In the history of medicine they conducted animal experiments to advance the understanding of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Opponents of animal testing think that the results are not applicable to humans. This may be partly true because not every animal reacts the same as a human. There have been occasions where drugs do not work in an animal’s physiology as they do in the human body. Sometimes they cause more sickness and unintended consequences.
The majority of people argue that animals should not be experimented on by people and that they should have the same rights as humans. Animals feel as much pain as humans do, and they suffer when they are kept in cages for long periods of time. Most animals are

Running Head: ANIMALS SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR TESTING

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used to test cosmetics, not to find cures for diseases (AAT, 2014). This is unnecessary because humans can get nutrients and vitamins from green vegetables and fruits. Therefore there is no need to make animals suffer.
One positive aspect of animal testing is that it helps improve health and medicine.
Many medical treatments have been made possible through animal testing, including cancer and HIV drugs, insulin, antibiotics, vaccines and many more (AAT, 2014). However in animal testing, animals are experimented on and then killed after their use.
Others are injured and the unfortunate aspect is that many of these animals received tests for substances that will never be approved for public use. It is this aspect of animal testing that many view as a major negative against the practice, as it seems that the animals died in vain because no direct benefit to humans occurred (AALAS, 2003). Scientists are basically playing with animals pretending they are not even living beings.
A difference between animal testing and human testing is that animals do not volunteer themselves to be tested. I believe it would be better if they tried to test a human because animals and humans rarely get the same diseases (AAT, 2014).