In order to make sure things like vaccines, medicines, and products work, laboratories have to test them to make sure they work and aren’t harmful to humans. Animals are typically used as test subjects for all these things. But should we let this testing continue to happen?
What animals are used?
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) said scientists choose animals by seeing which are most similar to humans’ genetics, anatomy, and physiology, which is the way a living organism or body part works.
According to Cruelty Free International, animals used in animal testing aren’t only rats but also others too. Under U.S. animal experiment regulations rats, mice, fish, amphibians (cold-blooded animals that live part of their lives on land and water) and birds aren’t defined as animals so they can be used in animal testing with no legal permission.
A mouse being tested on (rawpixel.com)
Why and how are animals tested on?
There are many reasons and ways as to how and why animals get tested on. The reason they get tested on is because the animals chosen are the most similar to humans or have a specific part of them being researched that’s most similar to a human.
According to Cruelty Free International when animals get tested on, it may cause distress, pain, suffering, or lasting harm to the animal. Some ways animals get tested are by having an animal’s organs or tissues be purposefully removed, forcing them to inhale toxic gases, forcing animals into situations that may cause depression and or anxiety, or by feeding/injecting potentially harmful substances to the animal. These are sadly not every way animals get tested on since the other ways could result in the animals getting killed.
Is animal testing a good or bad thing?
According to National Institutes of Health (NIH) animal testing sadly isn’t considered animal abuse but it is a highly debated topic since some see it as a good thing while others see it as a bad thing.
Britannica states there are many pros and cons to animal testing. It could help with finding cures for illnesses, diseases and product testing. It’s also a bad thing since the animals have to suffer in pain and sometimes even die.
There are also other ways to test products and medicines that don’t involve the need of animals. The Physicians Committee says there was a study in 2018 that asked Americans if they were with or against animal testing. The results of this study were that 47% of Americans were with animal testing and 52% were against it.
How can we help?
Animal testing is still sadly happening but there are many ways we can help to stop it. Peta listed different ways we could help. We could purchase cruelty-free products, which are products that were not tested on animals. Educating others on this problem could also help because the more people that are aware then the more people there are to also help stop animal testing. You could also leave your body to science so when you die your body could be used in testing instead of animals.
There are many people that are with or against animal testing. Hopefully in the future there will be no more animal testing but for now we should help in any way we can.
