Animal Testing
Animal testing is a controversial issue that has been occurring in the United States for many years. Over 100 million animals are used for every year for chemical, drug, food, and cosmetic testing. These animals are kept in poor living conditions and experience pain and suffering. Animal testing is wrong and unethical and alternative methods exist that could help prevent this testing.
The way animal testing is exercised in America today is inhumane. Everyday hundreds of thousands of mice, rats, primates, cats, dogs, birds and other animals are used for testing. Animals used for testing are often times abused and neglected. They spent most of there lives locked up in cold, dark cages without the freedom to run around or go outside. Many times they are physically retrained for long periods of time or deprived of necessary food and water. Animals used in testing are subjected to things such as forced feeding …show more content…
Just because a test or substance works on an animal, does not guarantee it will work the same on a human. In fact, “The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) reports that 92 percent of drugs approved for testing in humans fail to receive approval for human use”. Many drugs pass animal testing but then prove to be dangerous for humans. For example, Vioxx, an arthritis drug, was sold in the United States because it passed animal testing, but then ended up causing over 60,000 deaths in humans (Limitations and Dangers). On the other hand, some drugs and substances fail animal testing, but prove to be helpful in humans. One major example is Aspirin, which is harmful to some animals but is a valuable pain reliever that works well in humans. This has caused some important drugs to almost be “shelved” or not put on the market because researchers thought they where harmful due to animal testing results when they are in fact useful (and not harmful) to humans (Animal
Animal testing is a controversial issue that has been occurring in the United States for many years. Over 100 million animals are used for every year for chemical, drug, food, and cosmetic testing. These animals are kept in poor living conditions and experience pain and suffering. Animal testing is wrong and unethical and alternative methods exist that could help prevent this testing.
The way animal testing is exercised in America today is inhumane. Everyday hundreds of thousands of mice, rats, primates, cats, dogs, birds and other animals are used for testing. Animals used for testing are often times abused and neglected. They spent most of there lives locked up in cold, dark cages without the freedom to run around or go outside. Many times they are physically retrained for long periods of time or deprived of necessary food and water. Animals used in testing are subjected to things such as forced feeding …show more content…
Just because a test or substance works on an animal, does not guarantee it will work the same on a human. In fact, “The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) reports that 92 percent of drugs approved for testing in humans fail to receive approval for human use”. Many drugs pass animal testing but then prove to be dangerous for humans. For example, Vioxx, an arthritis drug, was sold in the United States because it passed animal testing, but then ended up causing over 60,000 deaths in humans (Limitations and Dangers). On the other hand, some drugs and substances fail animal testing, but prove to be helpful in humans. One major example is Aspirin, which is harmful to some animals but is a valuable pain reliever that works well in humans. This has caused some important drugs to almost be “shelved” or not put on the market because researchers thought they where harmful due to animal testing results when they are in fact useful (and not harmful) to humans (Animal