Animal Experimentation Is Unnecessary

On May 18, 1984, members from the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) went into the University of Pennsylvania and stole thirty videotapes made by researchers on their experiments on head injuries inflicted on baboons. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) showed parts of the videotapes to the media, showing "shocking pictures of a baboon repeatedly writhing on a table as a hydraulic piston hit the animal's head. Paralysis and coma were the results...[and] they were then killed and their brains analyzed" (The Human Use of Animals, p72). This is one of the many examples in which animals have been used for research purposes. For many years, animals have been used for medical, psychological, and cosmetic research to give humans deep insight into these topics of interest. Although animal experimentation was intended to help human welfare, it sparked controversy between animal rights activists who were opposed to it, and scientists and researchers who believed that animal experimentation was necessary to help mankind. Opponents of animal experimentation believed that animals were being treated inhumanely and cruelly, and scientists and researchers believed that animal experimentation would lead to new medicines, vaccines, and a cure for diseases. …show more content…
However, animal experimentation should not be permitted because animals have rights, humans and animals are not completely similar in regards to our cellular composition, and animal experimentation is unethical and