Kara Bresciani
Mrs. Griffin
Honors English V
18 November 2012
Animal Testing for Medical Research
Particular topics in the world create havoc for both listeners and speakers due to the numerous opinions that humans keep. Animal testing has been raised to such a largely debated topic throughout the world since “some of this scientific research is to learn about and improve the welfare of animals, but many animal experiments are conducted for human benefits,” (Animal Experimentation). Although the testing may be cruel, countless instances are enough proof to convince people that it is what the world needs. Johnny Aququilino is a young boy who can thank animal testing for the life he is living today. Born without a left ventricle of his heart, Johnny was saved by a series of techniques that were performed on animals first (Zoomshare). Even though some animals are killed after receiving testing for substances that are never actually used, animals should be tested because they help confirm the safety of matters that humans are exposed to and they help researchers find drugs and treatments to improve human health.
Many humans will argue that animal testing is cruel and unmoral because throughout and after the testing, the animals are harmed or even killed. No one will know exactly how many animals are used for testing but “since more than 1.4 million mammals other than rats and mice were used in research, and since mice and rats probably make up 90% of the animals in labs, we can guess that about 14 million rats and mice were used in research in 2002.” 14 million animals is an abundant number of animals to take out of the world. Although not all of them are killed or hurt, more than half of the animals are involved in painful procedures. Several people believe that even if only a certain amount of animals are harmed during testing, that is too many and absolutely no animals deserve unpleasant treatment. No matter how many animals were harmed, there was pain that was performed on animals and many humans can argue that it is unmoral to kill them. (ASPCA).
Although there may be a major downfall to testing animals for medical research, all the pros of the situation overrule the negative aspects. Testing animals aids researchers in finding drugs that are not safe towards the human race. “Many medical treatments have been made possible by animal testing, including cancer and HIV drugs, insulin, antibiotics, vaccines and many more,”(Murnaghan). Before testing began, there was a tragic situation that had occurred due to lack of animal trials. In 1937, a pharmaceutical company in the USA created a preparation of sulfanilamide using DEG as a solvent without knowing that DEG is poisonous to humans. After simply adding raspberry flavoring to the sulfa drug, the company marketed the product and eventually they were the cause of more than one hundred deaths. After the outbreak, people realized it is essential for the survival of the human race to test on animals first. As a result, they created the “1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act requiring safety testing of drugs on animals before they could be marketed,”(Hajar M.D). If researchers were to use animals to test the drug in the first place, those one hundred humans would have been able to live a longer and for fulfilled life because the company would have recognized the drug was not safe. Animal testing is now able to aid scientists and researchers in discovering what drugs will harm the human race and with the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in place, there will hopefully not be any more tragedies like the one in 1937.
Not only does animal testing prevent humans from being exposed to unsafe drugs, but it also helps researchers find drugs that are able to save lives. “In 2006, infant mortality in the USA – a key indicator of the nation’s health – was measured at fewer than seven deaths per 1,000 live births compared to 47 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1940. Much of