Is Animal Testing Unethical?

What is animal testing? Animal testing is a scientific test or research where chemicals and drugs are tested on live animals to carry out results. Nowadays, animals are used for testing cosmetic products, and food products before selling these products to the general public. Animals like rodents, mice, dogs, and rabbits are commonly used as a source of animal experiments. In the article “Animal Experimentation” written by Paul Flecknell he claims that “[a]nimal experimentation has played a part in many major medical advances” (par. 1). But in my perspective, this might be not true. Animal testing is unethical because it has a negative effect on the health of animals, violates animal’s autonomy like their movement, day to day activities, and animals are forced to injected with drugs, and is not suitable for humans because of different body tissues for example, some medications, and drugs might work positively on animals but not on human beings which result in suffering, and death to humans.

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 The first reason why animal testing is unethical is that animal testing has a detrimental effect on the health and wellness of animals. Animal experimentation affects animal mentally as well as physically. For example, under the experiment process, animals are injected with different kinds of drugs to know the result of the particular drug, but it causes discomfort and physical pain to them. As a consequence they suffer from distress, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. In the article written by Dana Bidnall, she says that animals in the lab feels “separation from their mothers soon after birth”, and suffer from loneliness (par. 7). This demonstrates that animals are kept in captivity, which results in suffering from boredom, depression, and death. Moreover, animals do not get a proper a diet, and high nutrition. They are deprived from food and water while they are under the experimentation process which has a bad effect on their wellness. “A certain number of animals used in experiments are killed” (Gross and Tolba 47). Some experiments result in the death of animals because the substances like drugs, and chemicals that are used on animals might be dangerous for them. Animals are kept in the science labs where animals get “minimum standards of accommodations” (Gross and Tolba 47). They get low quality of life in the labs which is not sufficient for their survival, growth, and development. In a survey conducted by the U.S department of agriculture in 2016, they reported that more than 70,000 animals suffered pain “with no anesthesia” (Rottach, par. 2). This states that animals live a life full of pain without any medication under scientific researches. Ultimately, animal experimentation causes animals physically as well as mentally and has a harmful effect on their life.

 The second reason why animal testing is unethical is that animal testing restricts animal’s freedom like their daily activities, and mobility because they are kept in cages in the laboratories. In addition to this, they live in an artificial environment without contact with their family members. Also, animal research restricts their day to day activities like hunting their prey, and so on. Moreover, animals are forced to live in confined spaces during the research process. For instance, chimpanzees and gorillas require more space for their survival, which they do not get in the labs as compared to the wild. Rats and mice are “crammed by the hundreds into tiny cages” (Bidnall, par. 6). This states that animals are kept in the laboratories which result in losing their ability to adapt. Furthermore, in the article “If I Can’t Speak, It Doesn’t Mean I Have No Rights” by Hana Rottach, she explains that animals are injected with “lethal diseases”, and they are “forced to inhale toxic substances” (par. 2). This reveals that chemicals are transferred into an animal’s body, and these experiments are done forcefully on animals without an animal’s consent which results in violating their autonomy. Non- human animals also have their freedom, they cannot consent that does not mean humans are allowed to do harmful experiments on animals. Furthermore, in the science laboratories, it is very difficult to “fulfill the complex social, behavioral, and psychological needs” (Gross and Tolba 47). This shows that animals are put under restrictions, and they cannot live a free life in the research laboratories. Finally, animal testing has a great impact on animal’s liberty, and mobility.

 The third reason why animal testing is unethical in my opinion is that the results of animal testing are not acceptable for humans because animals and humans have different body DNA as a result some medications have a positive effect on animals but when they are tested on humans it has a negative effect on human beings as a consequence humans may suffer from physical pain and death. Animals are used to study the causes and effects of diseases like heart attacks, and cancer (Flecknell, par. 5). This might be not true because we can find some diseases like cancer and heart attacks only in the human body. However, we cannot find treatment and causes of the illnesses that are not found in animals by animal testing. According to a survey, 92% of medication trials failed on humans, even the medication trials passed on animals (Archibad and Coleman, par. 3). Humans died because of the medications, and drugs that are not suitable to prevent diseases because some of the diseases are injected artificially to animals. Vioxx, a medication used to treat joint pain, was found to be effective when testing on rodents, African green monkeys, and mice. However, when Vioxx is used on humans it causes cardiac and vascular diseases to human beings (Stachura 148). As a consequence, some of the drugs and medications are withdrawn because it results in anxiety, strokes, heart attacks, and death to humans. Overall, animals and humans have different genes and DNA, that’s why testing on animals is not an appropriate method to find causes, effects, and cure to safeguard human life.

 Overall, animal research is morally wrong because it has a harmful impact on the well-being of animals, oppose animal’s liberty in many ways, and is not useful for humans because it results in human suffering. Animals are abused by different kinds of drugs that affect them physically as well as mentally. Furthermore, animal testing requires capturing animals which interfere their independence, and animal research also leads to human suffering because animal testing has different results on animals and human beings.  Every country should try to limit animal experimentation so that animals can live a better life.

Works Cited

• Archibald, Kathy, and Robert Coleman. “A Humane Solution.” New Scientist, vol. 216, no. 2895, Dec. 2012, p. 32-33. EBSCOhost,ezproxycolumbiacollege.bc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=t-rue&db=ulh&AN=84339236&site=eds-live.
• Bidnall, Dana. “Animal Testing.” Alive: Canada’s Natural Health & Wellness Magazine, no. 299, Sept. 2007, p.48-51. EBSCOhost, http://ezproxy.columbiacollege.bc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=p3h&AN=26543920&site=eds-live.
• Flecknell, Paul. “Animal Experimentation.” World Book Student, 2016. https://www.worldbookonline.com/studentnew/#/article/home/ar022480/animal%20experimentation.
• Gross, Dominik, and René H. Tolba. “Ethics in Animal-Based Research.” European Surgical Research. Europaische Chirurgische Forschung. Recherches Chirurgicales Europeennes, vol. 55, no. 1–2, 2015, p. 43–57. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1159/000377721, http://ezproxy.columbiacollege.bc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mnh&AN=25871531&site=eds-live.
• Rottach, Hana. “If I Can’t Speak, It Doesn’t Mean I Have No Rights.” Skipping Stones, vol. 31, no. 3, July 2019, p.21. EBSCOhost,    ezproxy.columbiacollege.bc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=prh&AN=137245587&site=eds-live.
• Stachura, Shree. “Drug Safety: An Argument to Ban Animal Testing.” Journal of Nursing Law, vol. 12, no. 4, Dec. 2008, pp. 147–156. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.columbiacollege.bc.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ccm&AN=105513772&site=eds-live.