Word Doc, Jackie
Bartelmo
Animal Testing: Why it is morally offensive
“The different types of animal testing and why they are morally wrong”
Animal testing is cruel and an inhumane way to torture animals for mankind’s own
benefit. There have been millions of animals that have suffered a vicious,
painful death in the name of research. Just as Peter Singer asked in his book
Animal Liberation “Would experimenters be prepared to carry out their experiment
on a human orphan under six months old if that were the only way to save
thousands of lives?” (81). Singer further states that “if the experimenters
would not be prepared to use a human infant then their readiness to use nonhuman
animals reveals an unjustifiable form of discrimination on the basis of species”
(81). Animals are living beings just like humans, but people seem to think that
animals are nothing but mere tools at their disposal. Types of animal testing
are medical research, dissection, and cosmetic testing.
For many years researchers have been using animals as test tools for human
medications. People say that by using animals, we are getting closer to finding
the cure for cancer, but in fact, all the researchers found was the cure for
cancer in mice, but it simply didn’t work in humans, according to a former head
of the U.S. National Cancer Institute (PETA: at stake). Animals and humans are
built differently; because of this animals don’t suffer from disease in the same
way that people do. In research labs animals are screamed at, hit, and stuffed
in tiny cages when researchers are finished using them. It is also stated that
ninety-two percent out of every 100 drugs that passed animal testing failed
clinical trials on people. Every year in the United States alone, there are more
than 100,000 human deaths all caused by drugs that were successfully passed by
animal testing (PETA: at stake). Since all that extensive research has failed,
it has wasted time that could have been spent using alterative testing which
would be more reliable and accurate for medical research.
Dissection is another form of animal testing where people cut open defenseless
animals just to see how their insides work as if they were some kind of machine.
The kinds of animals dissected in schools consist of frogs, cats, dogs, pigs,
mice, rabbits, fish, worms, and insects; the frogs are taken from the wild and
the other animals are taken from slaughterhouses, animal shelters, pounds, pets
stores, and even “free to a good home” advertisements. (PETA: Dissection) A PETA
undercover investigator at one of the nation’s largest suppliers for animals to
use for dissection was told by his supervisor that some of the cats that were
killed had been companion animals that had “escaped” from their homes (Animals
and Dissection). Where is the morality in that? The fact that students are
cutting open another person’s pet is just wrong. Animals that are used for
dissection are being gassed, and sometimes, they are taken out still alive and
in pain only to be injected with formaldehyde (PETA: Dissection), which is a
severely irritating caustic substance that causes a painful death. Students who
dissect animals are desensitized to the sanctity of life, and dissection could
encourage students to harm animals elsewhere, possibly in their own back yard.
Serial Killer Jeffery Dahmer attributed his fascination with murder and
mutilation to classroom dissections. (PETA: Dissection) Animals deserve to live
out their lives naturally the way they were intended to.
The cosmetic industry uses animals to determine their safety of the products. As
a result of the tests performed, millions of animals suffer painful deaths. One
kind of test used on animals is called the irritancy test where a liquid, flake,
granule, or powdered substance is dropped into the eyes of a group of albino
rabbits (Cosmetic testing). Because of this, the rabbit’s eyes become swollen
irritated and may even bleed. While the rabbits are alive and conscious, at
least fifty percent of the animals that endure these tests die usually within
2-3 weeks. There is another kind of test performed to establish what skin care
products are safe for humans which is called the skin irritancy test. Those
tests are mostly conducted on rabbits and guinea pigs. This is a process that
involves shaving the animals and placing chemicals on their raw bare skin and
covering the skin with adhesive plaster. The animals become immobilized in
restraining devices to prevent them from struggling. This form of testing is
probably by far the worst of its kind; These animals that under go tests just
for a new lipstick or perfume live in tiny, crowded cages in fear of pain and
suffering. Animals have different biological systems than humans do therefore
the tests cannot be as accurate (Cosmetic testing). Cosmetic testing is not only
abusive to animals, but also highly expensive. Alternative testing could retain
the same amount of data, and is less expensive and not cruel to animals. The
fact that people take small helpless animals to torture them just so humans can
make themselves look and feel better is just wrong.
There are more logical ways of conducting tests than these which are stated
above. Tests that is more accurate and less abusive to living creatures, such as
"Synthetic skin," called Corrositex, Computer modeling and improved statistical
design, The Murine Local Lymph Node Assay (LLNA). It is a proven fact that
animals feel pain just like humans do, but we still think it is okay to torture
and kill animals in the name of science. If this were humans that researchers
were using it would be deemed unethical and immoral. We must to put an end
to this cruelty and torture because just like humans, animals are living beings.
No matter how it is perceived, it is cruel and unusual punishment. “The soul is
the same in all living creatures, although the body of each is different.”
(Quoted by Hippocrates “philosopher”) If humans would take the time and absorb
what this quote truly means, then maybe they would have a better respect and
understanding for animals and see why animal testing is morally wrong, and
tortures creatures that can’t speak up for themselves.
Works Citied
Cosmetic testing facts. Hidden Ingredient: Animal Suffering. In Defense of
Animals. 17 July 2006
http://www.idausa.org/facts/costesting.html
People for the ethical treatment of animals (PETA). “Dissection: Lessons in
Cruelty.” Media Center 17 July 2006.
http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=92
---. (PETA) “What’s at stake.” Media Center. 14 July
2006.
http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=92
Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.
Teasdale, Kate. “Animal testing is morally wrong.” Fazed. 10 July 2006.
http://www.fazed.com/lifestyle/animal_testing.html
