The reason as to why scientific and pharmaceutical experiments are undertaken using animals is to find cures for varied maladies other than experimenting with humans, which are because of poor lifestyle. Ryder and Dudley (45) contends that, “tests are done to ensure that human wants are taken care of which in most cases are non-essential, and alternatives are readily available in the animal products. According to religious studies, killing animals to satisfy human wants is a contradiction.” This argument is a confirmation the use of animals in experimentation is subverting some of the religious doctrines despite them having vital significance in the medical field. However, most of the scientists cling onto the notion that life of human beings ought to be coming first to that of animals and thus the human race has the power of using the animals in testing cure that will make them stay healthy. Conversely, religious beliefs also hold on the argument that all living things on earth are of value and human beings should not be taking the lives of animals for granted. These two conflicting ideologies has been a major point of discussion in many platforms and a succinct conclusion has never been attained to resolve this issue.
The extent to which animal is used in experimentation seems as if scientists put animals at risk to ensure that the medicine produced does not kill human beings. This implies that, if anything is not right the only living life that is to be lost is that of animals. To some extent, the lives that are put at stake are those of the animals. Animals consequently become targets for experiments because their bodies have the same response to medicines just like human beings and because humans see them as being lesser in value (Allen 74). This implies that the reaction that the animals’ bodies give is the same as what humans will give once subjected to medicine. Even though ethics research code prohibits the use of animals for experiments, other antagonists just go ahead and do tests only for-profit purposes. Some tests are very crucial to try with human beings. As a result, they are done onto animals. Examples embrace medical operations onto animals to determine whether they can make live, and if they do not, they just lose their lives. This will continue until the moment when the animals will survive to make sure that the experiment is a success and safe on humans. This is a massive loss of animal lives through unsuccessful medical tests. Pharmaceutical experiments, which may go wrong, may ruin the health conditions for an animal thus resulting in the loss of life that creature. Another way the animal experiments translate to be significantly a loss of pets’ lives encompasses a careless or a bit less keenness when conducting them. Thus, it should also be part of the doctor’s opinion to know that all the experiments that they plan to be doing on animals should be in such a way a greater caution is in consideration just like in the case of human lives.
Animal experimentation is a ruthless action in that they bring a lot of suffering to the animals. The following are examples of experiments done and showed high levels of cruelty to them. An example of a crueltest is that of a multi-dog conducted in the 1950s whereby the scientist by the name Demikhov created a multi-dog by removing body parts of a small dog and implanted them to the body of an adult dog. The multi-dog lived for six days, and the two-headed dog died (Gannes, O’Brien & Del Rio 345). Another critical illustration of animal experimentation is that of the ear-mouse whereby a scientist by the name Dr. Charles Vacanti who was a transplant surgeon experimented with a mouse by the use of its ears to demonstrate a possible way of cartilage transportation to human beings (Gannes, O’Brien & Del Rio 675). Dental testswere doneon dogs, discovered to be ongoing, and they do bring a lot of suffering and abuse to them. Chimpanzee experiments are typical because they are the closest species to human beings implying that they are likely to give areaction that is similar to that of a human body (Leonard 1271). Their bodies are used for drug testing and surgery.
Animal experimentation is unethical because animals have nervous systems and they feel pain just like human beings. Since animals have the feeling that human beings have as well, they feel tortured when locked inside cages, which denies them their freedom. While in the labs they end up infected with diseases that they cannot get in their normal daily lives thus making them suffer while looking for the cure for that particular disease. This experimentations even goes to some extent whereby sometimes end up shocked by electricity to make them cool down coupled with subjeted to isolation, starvation and sometimes brain damage as a result of drug testing (Berlasky 1). After a long day of experimenting with an animal, they are returned to the cages without even injected with painkillers. This constitutes to one of the unethical behaviors that would make any one to think that the doctors only value the lives of human beings but not animals despite playing an invaluable role. Reduced worth that they have on animals would act as a slow poison on doctors as they will also adopt the habit of careless on the lives of human beings which are not according to their ethical standards of functioning as doctors.
Gannes, O’Brien and Del Rio (345) contend, “animal experimentations have been found to be inaccurate thus the following alternatives are more reliable in providing better and reliable results.” The first option can be the use of human cell structures grown in the laboratories and used in medical experiments. Human tissues are another alternative obtained from donation by an individual from surgery and post-mortems of dead people. Cruel rabbit irritation tests have been eliminated by the use of reconstituted human skin and other tissues thus saving the rabbits from the cruelty. Brains tissues obtained from post-mortem have provided better and accurate understanding of brain generation and the effect of Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s infections. Computer models can be used to replicate the aspects of human body tissues because they have grown regarding sophistication. This is possible because there are some computer models, which already exist like the kidney, skin body systems and the heart. The models are very essential in conducting experiments that contain information that already exists. Volunteer studies can be used an alternative because the advanced technology has enabled it to develop sophisticated scanning equipment that can be used to study human beings who can offer themselves to be examined (Smyth 8).
- Allen, Fox, Michael. The Case for Animal Experimentation: An Evolutionary and Ethical Perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. Print. 74-98
- Berlasky, Noah “Animal Testing is Bad Science: Animal rights.” Green Press N.P., 2017. Web.15 Nov. 2017
- Gannes, Leonard Z., Diane M. O’Brien, and Carlos Martinez Del Rio. “Stable isotopes in animal ecology: assumptions, caveats, and a call for more laboratory experiments.” Ecology 78.4 (1997): 1271-1276.
- Ryder, Richard Dudley. “Victims of science: The use of animals in research.” Davis-Poynter Ltd, 1975. Print.
- Smyth, David Henry. Alternatives to animal experiments. Scolar Press Ltd., 34.6 (1978): 8-34.