By Yervand Kondrahjian | Staff Writer
Have you ever imagined what it would feel like to be locked up in a cage inside a laboratory and have scientists perform tests on you again and again? How would it feel to be continuously subjected to abuse and suffering, intentionally paralyzed, or force-fed pesticides? Animals have endured so much pain over the last 2000 years for the sake of humans. Data gathered by F. Barbara Orlans for her book, In the Name of Science: Issues in Responsible Animal Experimentation revealed that sixty percent of animals that undergo tests are used in biomedical research and testing of product safety (Orlans, 1993). It can be tough for experimenters to decide whether or not to do a painful experiment on an animal, though. Some believe that exposing animals to painful and damaging experiments that no one would ever do to humans is an outrageous act. Others deem such experiments necessary for the advancement of medical techniques and furthering of experimental research. Subjecting animals to pain and distress is not worth the cost, despite the possible benefits of knowledge produced by animal research. Therefore, scientists should not use animals in research.
First, using animals in research is a violation of animals’ rights. According to Tom Reagan, a philosophy professor at North Carolina State University, animals are not respected when they are used as tools in scientific experiments since they do not have a choice (Orlans, 1993). They undergo painful tests that might result in permanent damage, yet they do not have the option of not taking part in such torturing experiments. Why would we humans assume that these animals are willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of human welfare? Do we have the right to decide on behalf of these helpless creatures just because they cannot voice out their preferences? By deciding the fate of animals, humans are infringing these creatures’ rights with no consideration for their safety and the quality of their lives. “Animal Testing” (2021) contends that annually, more than 100 million animals are killed in laboratories for research purposes (in the U.S.). Outrageously, they are exposed to extreme torment before their deaths: they are forced to inhale poisonous fumes, are imprisoned in barren cages, and are deprived of their natural environment. The Humane Society International has revealed that animals used in experiments are exposed to force-feeding, food and water deprivation, and the infliction of burns to research the healing process (ProCon.org, 2020).
The harmful use of animals in experiments is not only inhumane but also often ineffective. Animals are different from human beings in terms of their anatomy and metabolism; thus, they are poor models for human beings (ProCon.org, 2020). According to Paul Furlong, Professor of Clinical Neuroimaging at Aston University (UK), it’s difficult to create an animal model that resembles humans (ProCon.org, 2020). Besides, animals do not catch the same diseases as humans do, such as HIV, cancer, heart diseases, and others. What happens in the laboratories is that animals are artificially induced with signs of these diseases to imitate our diseases (“Arguments against animal testing,” n.d). As a result, the treatments that seem to be promising on animals could have little effect on humans, since a great range of variables – psychological, socio-economic factors, genetics – need to be taken into consideration. 90% of drugs that had passed animal tests have failed in human trials (“Arguments against animal testing,” n.d) either because of their lack of safety or ineffectiveness. Furthermore, animal tests could predict only 19% of 93 dangerous drug side effects (“Arguments against animal testing,” n.d). So, there is little statistical evidence on whether or not using a drug on animals such as dogs, mice or rats will even be safe to use on humans.
On another level, it has been argued that animals should be used for testing to prevent the use of human subjects. That conducting aggressive experimental procedures on humans before even trying out the methods on animals would be unethical. We universally acknowledge that a human’s life is priceless and should not be risked unnecessarily. However, aren’t animals God’s creatures too, and should therefore be treated with kindness and respect? These creatures experience pain in a similar way to humans; when exposed to pain, they scream (“Save the Animals”,n.d)! Why shouldn’t subjecting animals’ lives to excruciating pain, in this case, be considered unethical as well? Besides, alternative testing methods can replace the need for animals in research. Technological advancements have offered opportunities, such as in-vitro testing and tissue bioprinting, to decrease or eliminate animal testing. Nowadays, artificial human skin can even be made from sheets of human skin cells grown in test tubes and yield better results than when tested on animal skin (ProCon.org, 2020). As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that by 2025, such alternatives will reduce chemical testing on mammals by 30% and then eliminate it completely by 2035. Furthermore, medical advancements involving animal research can even currently be done without the use of animals. According to Humane Research Australia (HRA), many discoveries done by using alternative methods to animal testing were later confirmed by animal experiments, which puts the insistence on animal use into question (ProCon.org, 2020).
In conclusion, using animals for testing to save human lives is both cruel and ineffective. Torturing animals and depriving them of their right to live in their natural environments are heinous acts, especially when the cause they are dying for is not totally valid. The pursuit of knowledge and the interest in technological advancements should not be paid for with innocent creatures just because they do not have a say in how they want to lead their lives. Improving the lives of humans should not justify the exploitation of animals. It is time we realize that the value that human beings place on their lives should be extended to animals as well. Animals have the right to be treated with respect, which is not the case when they’re being exploited for human profit. After all, all humans are animals, too.