Animal Experimentation: Unpleasant but Necessary
Since 500 BC, animals have been used to develop life-saving medical treatments, analyze certain medications, ensure the safety of products intended for human use, and various other biomedical uses. Animal testing has allowed humans to extensively develop numerous treatments as well as medications, and is essential towards the advancement of modern medicine. Despite this, in recent years (that is, relative to the existence of animal testing), such research has received significant amounts of criticism, primarily being that animal testing is cruel, inhumane and unnecessary. However, opponents of animal testing overlook several factors as to why animal testing occurs - if humanity truly found it unnecessary to use animal specimens in research, we simply would not.
Humane Treatment of Specimens
The first of these factors is the fact that animal testing is as humane as possible, with many regulations in place enforcing that “the avoidance or minimization of discomfort, distress, and pain when consistent with sound scientific practices, is imperative,” according to Institute …show more content…
Despite this, we must assess what is humane and what is not, specifically when the death of an animal is in discussion. In nature itself, it has been observed that all organisms are in a constant struggle for survival and must compete against one another to do so. Occasionally, this may mean defending against a harmful competitor that has the capability of endangering one’s own species, or in the case of a predator feeding from other organisms. This is simply a fact of all life, it cannot be avoided. Likewise, humanity must sometimes sacrifice the life of another species to further our own. Therefore, if we must sometimes use an animal subject to develop medicine in order to survive as a whole species, we are in accord with these basic
Since 500 BC, animals have been used to develop life-saving medical treatments, analyze certain medications, ensure the safety of products intended for human use, and various other biomedical uses. Animal testing has allowed humans to extensively develop numerous treatments as well as medications, and is essential towards the advancement of modern medicine. Despite this, in recent years (that is, relative to the existence of animal testing), such research has received significant amounts of criticism, primarily being that animal testing is cruel, inhumane and unnecessary. However, opponents of animal testing overlook several factors as to why animal testing occurs - if humanity truly found it unnecessary to use animal specimens in research, we simply would not.
Humane Treatment of Specimens
The first of these factors is the fact that animal testing is as humane as possible, with many regulations in place enforcing that “the avoidance or minimization of discomfort, distress, and pain when consistent with sound scientific practices, is imperative,” according to Institute …show more content…
Despite this, we must assess what is humane and what is not, specifically when the death of an animal is in discussion. In nature itself, it has been observed that all organisms are in a constant struggle for survival and must compete against one another to do so. Occasionally, this may mean defending against a harmful competitor that has the capability of endangering one’s own species, or in the case of a predator feeding from other organisms. This is simply a fact of all life, it cannot be avoided. Likewise, humanity must sometimes sacrifice the life of another species to further our own. Therefore, if we must sometimes use an animal subject to develop medicine in order to survive as a whole species, we are in accord with these basic