Alvarez 1
Anthony Alvarez
English 1A
09/28/2012
Animal Testing Right or Wrong? The number of animals killed each year in the United States, is from 17 million to 70 million animals. Even though, the Animal Welfare Act states laboratories must report the number of animals used in experiments; mice, birds, and rats are not included in this number over all. According to the Society of Animals, these animals are used in 80 to 90 percent of all animal testing. Animal testing may not directly affect people each day or be an issue on everyone’s minds, yet the actions are done daily affects those for and against animal testing. This has been a worldwide issue and an ongoing battle for decades. The practice of testing on animals has been around since scientist started creating more medicines. There are so many reasons why people and organizations want animal testing to be changed or even stopped. People of all nations and religions stand differently on this topic. People don’t think about it very often, but when they do or hear more about it and what goes on with it all, it should make them realize all of the sick things they do to these poor little innocent animals. Therefore animal testing should be banned. A group that is against animal testing is the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Their main claim is “Animals are not ours to eat, wear experiment on, or use for

Alvarez 2 entertainment”. PETA states animals used in experiments are free roaming animals, like frogs, birds, pigs and sheep, because the public will see them with less compassion for being less cute PETA believes more educated people is the key to help and save these helpless animals. Another claim against animal testing is the numerous cases where medicines passed by the FDA that posed no threat to animals, caused serious side effects on humans, forcing the items be withdrawn. That just clearly shows people that animals are not exactly the same as human beings and might react differently to certain medicines.
There are many companies that are trying to stop animal testing. The Body Shop just being one, a popular worldwide franchise; opposes cosmetic animal testing. They claim there are so many alternatives in which a good company may employ instead of doing testing on animals. The Body Shop’s products state the company’s “Against Animal Testing” (AAT) stance. They have an “AAT policy and the annual compliance checks they run involving all our suppliers worldwide are also subjected to independent review” They claim companies can avoid animal testing by not buying ingredients or other products from suppliers that test on animals. The Body Shop encourages