Animal testing is also known as the use of animals for scientific experiments. Most animal testing is done by universities, pharmaceutical companies, and medical schools. Most animals used for research are breed for the specific purpose of testing and few animals used for testing are captured from the wild. Scientists use animals for basic research such as behavior studies and genetics while other animal testing is done for the benefit of humans. This research includes drug testing, surgical procedures, medical equipment, and somewhat inconsequential applications like; cosmetics, and other household products. The animal protectors and animal right activists say that testing on animal should be banned and the scientists and medical doctors says that testing on animals can get uncountable benefits which can advantage for the people. There is a controversial whether testing on animals is possible or not. Even though this is difficult to decide who is right or who is wrong but there are a lot of advantages compare to disadvantages.
The amount of experiments on medical experiments which used animals as lab specimens increased enormously after World War 2. Animal are used for a lot of purposes including medicine, biology, education and training of doctors, for developing new vaccines and drugs and also they were used for cosmetics. If human being and animals are compared for conducting to an experiment, people will choose animals as a lab specimen for conducting to an experiment instead of choosing themselves although people realize that animals are important creatures to their lives. However, testing on animals for the new medicine showed that can give the most accurate result. Although millions of experiments that gave different results done by different scientists, the most accurate result is the one who have done his experiments on animal based research.
Although there are some alternative ways which is for avoiding animals as a lab specimen, which can only predict the reaction, but cannot guarantee human safety. A very good example for this case is that a successful testing Parkinson’s disease on animals, which have already saved millions of people’s lives. Whereas computers cannot give accurate and reliable results. The proportion of successful results from animal testing is more than 70 %. Due to testing drugs on animals, now we have antibiotics and vaccines that have saved many people. In addition to this example, we can show more accurate and reliable examples as Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B & C, and Spinal Cord Injuries therapies are developed from animal based testing. In addition, the remedy that now saves thousands of women with breast cancer was developed through testing on mice. Moreover, nowadays treatment and control of diseases and sufferings are possible through animal research. Over 70% of Nobel prizes in medicine on inventing new drugs have involved the use of animals.
For instance, before using animals for testing drugs, there was such bad illness like the Thalidomide. This disease infects pregnant women and in the 50’s babies were born whether without legs or hands. The treatment for this illness was successfully tested on rats so today it is not a problem. Additionally we must take into account such fact that inventing of useful drugs like insulin, Tetanus vaccines, AIDS treatment are possible owing to experiments on animals. All we know such illness like diabetes. And as we know the cure to this disease, especially insulin was invented due to testing on dogs. So nowadays testing drugs on animals has become so usual that people forgot about origin of most remedies. Tanks to animals, currently, we have drugs to treat people and it makes possible to save millions of lives every day, every hour, every second.
And there are also debatable forces which refuting that animal research has been undertaken with no other methodology available. Studies can be undertaken upon human cell cultures and engineered tissues, often at less cost than testing on animals. The argument is that historically, animal testing was essential due to the lack of viable alternatives. So, this is not an enough method to review a drug’s effects on the entire system remains contested by those in favor of medical testing.
There is another point which is showing about failure of animal testing. The animal physiology is not as the same as human physiology. The claim about TGN1412, an experimental drug intended to suppress immune system response is that despite extensive animal testing, the agent turned out to have an adverse and indeed almost lethal effect on humans. Aidsvax failed to protect human test volunteers, despite protecting chimpanzees. It has stated that animal testing can be downright contradictory certainly in the result it provides as well as completely misleading. There are several cases where adverse effects failed to predict negative effects through animal testing methods.
Another point is about the cost of animal testing. The cost to rear, feed and maintain animal subjects is extremely high, as stated even by proponents of animal testing. Alternative methods are cheaper and thus less burdensome on the economy. In societies where governmental funding is provided for medical research, there is a corresponding lessened burden on the taxpayer.
However, the animal testing is beneficial to all of us in different perspectives. It is important to mention that animal organs are the most adaptable to human body for transplantation. So it does not destroy a genetic structure, as a result we have various successful surgeries. Surgeries like coronary bypass surgery and heart transplantation came to existence because of experiments on dogs. Furthermore, such serious diseases like polio, rubella, chicken pox can be treated and controlled by carrying out testing on animals. On DNA level, chimpanzees’ body matches up with humans’ in 90%. This big number facilitates successful surgeries and transplantations because of similar inner organs of chimpanzees and pigs with human’s organs.
According to University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), liver from baboon was successfully transplanted to a 35 year- old man in June 1992. This case was the first known transplantation from animal to human. Moreover, rats, horses, mice and monkeys have similar organ structure to human beings which can be also used for open heart surgeries and transplantations. By using animals as a specimen, we have saved a lot of human lives. Instead of using an opinion that animal based research is wrong, we cannot deny that fact that annually millions of animals killed for food, they are used for agriculture, hunted for a pleasure of people and even euthanized. So using animals for saving people’s lives and treating them, by using their organs in surgeries, is not the worst idea.
To conclude, there is a strong opinion that using creatures for experiments gives us more reliable results. In other case animal protectors think that it is a cruel and unethical thing. The essence of animal based testing stated that using animal as lab specimen and outcome results are most reliable and the proportion of successful cases goes beyond 70%. Animal based medical research have made a big step forward and found cure to some horrible, infection diseases. Nowadays it is possible to make open heart surgeries, coronary bypass surgeries and transplant healthy organs to humans in order to save people’s lives. After analyzing all these arguments, the animal based research is an ethical and there will be some alternative ways to reduce the impact on animals which have been used to conduct on an experiment.
Argumentative Essay