Animal Testing: Ethical Or Inhumane?

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For most people there are two scenarios that come to mind when they hear animal testing. The first scenario is that scientist are torturing, neglecting and abusing the animals that are being tested on. The other scenario is that scientist are being ethical, take care of the animals and are creating life-saving medicines. This makes the use of animals in experiments a controversial topic; a topic that isn’t quite black and white when argued. There are different types of animal testing like, medical testing and cosmetic testing; one is more ethical than the other. Medical testing on animals help us gain more knowledge about different chemicals and medicines, but can be harmful to the animals, making it inhumane. On the other side, our knowledge …show more content…
These physician-scientist used animals to understand anatomy, pathology and help with surgical procedures (Haiar). The use of animal testing escalated in the 1600s, making it more of a controversial topic. In the 1600s, scientist justified animal testing by denying that animals don’t have any thoughts and reason like humans. But, in the 1800s views on animal testing had changed, creating anti-vivisectionist or anti-animal testing organizations like the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was created (Baier 137). The question of whether if testing on animals is ethical and humane was raised and examined. Up until the 20th century, animal testing was looked at as ethical under any circumstances. It was assumed that animals feel very little to no pain and don’t have the same rights as humans. According to M.A. Fox, an ethical philosopher, “Animals do not have ‘rights’ equivalent to humans due to their exclusion from the human ‘moral community’” (Baier 137-138). This “community” includes having a sense of time, being able to make decisions and having a sense of self-awareness (Baier 138). Therefore, testing on animals is more ethical than on humans, based on their inferior status. On the other hand, Peter Singer is against animal testing on the basis that animals do feel an extraordinary amount of pain and should have as many rights as humans. Animals should have equal rights just like …show more content…
As discussed previously, animal testing for medical use is ethical because it furthers human knowledge and safety, whereas using animals for cosmetics is unethical because it doesn’t further our knowledge just tests what we already know. Numerous cosmetic companies test on animals because they want to add untested ingredients that aren’t necessary to add into their products ("About Cosmetics Animal Testing"). These ingredients aren 't necessary to use because there are already pre-tested and safe ingredients that can be used instead, so there doesn’t have to be testing on animals. Cruelty-free companies use the already many safe ingredients available in their products, so they do not test on animals ("About Cosmetics Animal Testing”). If these companies do feel the need to test their products they turn to other alternatives of testing before using animals (Keville). Also, plenty of these companies that test on animals claim to do it because there are requirement laws for it in other countries that they sell to (“About Cosmetic Testing”); if this is the case then these companies shouldn 't sell to those countries till new laws are passed. So on, there is no necessity to use animals for cosmetics testing, making it unethical and cruel to the animals. There should be more laws on testing on animals in the basis of cosmetics, but separate from

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