Animal testing is a highly controversial topic with a multitude of opinions of both sides. It’s an industry where there are entire companies dedicated to the breeding of animals used for experimental purposes. It allows companies to order all types of animals, from beagles to mice, to be sent to their laboratory and tested on. Animal experiments are often used to develop new medicine and to test the safety of all kinds of products. Many of these experiments cause pain to the animals involved and drastically reduce their quality of life. In his book, Animal Liberation, Peter Singer states that the basic principle of equality requires equal consideration. The question we should be asking regarding animals rights is not “what can animals do for
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Animals do not contract many of the diseases that humans do, such as heart disease, cancers, HIV, Parkinson 's disease or schizophrenia. The diseases are instead injected into the animals artificially in laboratories to mimic the human disease. These experiments belittle the complexity of human conditions which are affected by a wide-variety of different variables such as genetics, psychological issues, and personal experiences. Often, treatments that appear promising in animals do not work on humans. Not only are time, money and innocent lives are being wasted, but effective treatments are being discarded and harmful treatments are being approved and distributed to humans. Support of animal testing is largely based on anecdote without any support to prove it effective. Scientists have been studying conditions like cancer and AIDS in animals for years, but have yet to find a reliable and totally effective …show more content…
This, however, is far from true. It is a common misconception that 85% of mice cells match human DNA, but in a recent analysis of over 100 mouse cells showed that only 50% of DNA responsible for regulating genes was matched with human DNA. That means every time any type of medicine, cosmetic product or any other product tested on mice that appears to be safe only has a 50% chance of being safe for humans. Cynomolgus macaque monkeys, the most commonly used species of monkeys used to test drug safety, are resistant to doses of acetaminophen that would be deadly to humans. Aspirin is toxic to many animals, including cats, mice and rats, and would not be on pharmacy shelves if it had been tested following the current animal testing standards. A drug used to treat arthritis, Vioxx, was found safe in six animals including monkeys, but has caused about 320,000 heart attacks and strokes and nearly 140,000 deaths
Animals do not contract many of the diseases that humans do, such as heart disease, cancers, HIV, Parkinson 's disease or schizophrenia. The diseases are instead injected into the animals artificially in laboratories to mimic the human disease. These experiments belittle the complexity of human conditions which are affected by a wide-variety of different variables such as genetics, psychological issues, and personal experiences. Often, treatments that appear promising in animals do not work on humans. Not only are time, money and innocent lives are being wasted, but effective treatments are being discarded and harmful treatments are being approved and distributed to humans. Support of animal testing is largely based on anecdote without any support to prove it effective. Scientists have been studying conditions like cancer and AIDS in animals for years, but have yet to find a reliable and totally effective …show more content…
This, however, is far from true. It is a common misconception that 85% of mice cells match human DNA, but in a recent analysis of over 100 mouse cells showed that only 50% of DNA responsible for regulating genes was matched with human DNA. That means every time any type of medicine, cosmetic product or any other product tested on mice that appears to be safe only has a 50% chance of being safe for humans. Cynomolgus macaque monkeys, the most commonly used species of monkeys used to test drug safety, are resistant to doses of acetaminophen that would be deadly to humans. Aspirin is toxic to many animals, including cats, mice and rats, and would not be on pharmacy shelves if it had been tested following the current animal testing standards. A drug used to treat arthritis, Vioxx, was found safe in six animals including monkeys, but has caused about 320,000 heart attacks and strokes and nearly 140,000 deaths