Animal Testing Should not Be Banned - Research Paper Example

Bei Wu Jensen Valerie English 101 21 Feb Scientists and medical researchers have been using animal testing in laboratories for a very long time.To ensure many medicines, cosmetics and food additive are safe for humans they are tested on non-human animals. Indeed, this practice has been in use from mid to late 1800s. In the early 1920s, the phenomenon of using live non-human animals to study the potential effects of toxics in an array of drugs came into use. The assumption is that the effects of such products on the animal used in the experiment are similar to that they would have on humans. Since the Roman Church had burned dissecting of human beings, researchers opted to go the animal way as they provided the best alternatives to human being and indeed, animal testing should not be forbidden considering that animal testing is beneficial for science field. One of the primary reasons of performing animal experiment is that animal testing is beneficial for science field. Scientists and doctors argue that every achievement in medical field in 20th century has relied on the use of animals in some way. Thus, scientists have prior knowledge and experience of using animal testing in carrying out experiments for many years (“National Academics Press” 12.) First, animal testing plays an essential role in developing the surgical field. According to Cooke (18), toxicologists have the responsibility of determining the level of exposure that is either safe or harmful to human health, animals as well as to the environment. Certain reasons make it necessary to use animals in scientific research and testing. By the fact that the composition of all organisms is chemical, introduction of a substance into the animal interacts in various parts of the body and effects of one process could bring unexpected consequences in others. It is important to understand the relationship between dosages given to a person and those administered to different organs and body tissues. Studies conducted on a whole animal are very important for ensuring proper use of beneficial chemicals to avoid causing harmful effects to receiving organs. Laboratory tools such as tests and computers cannot make a duplicate of the phenomena and thus the only sure method of testing is the use of animals. A study on chemical interaction with living organisms normally helps scientists to unveil some of the most fascinating mysteries of living organisms functioning. There is a dynamic relationship between plants, environment, and animals. According to McCally (1), the physiological processes allow living systems process chemicals that are in constant balance with the world. Scarce information relating to these fundamental processes is available. When disturbed by increasing levels of one substance, the measure of available toxic level becomes credible (Connel, et al. 102). Toxicologists in understanding chemical toxicity of substances have developed critical knowledge. The knowledge is important in protecting human beings, animals as well as the environment from both artificial and natural exposures. Animal testing is an important procedure in ensuring drug`s safety and efficiency. All chemicals, whether harmful or otherwise, have harmful effects to people if administered in wrong proportions. Any small amount of a useful or harmful substance when administered hardly causes a detectable significance in the body of a human. According to Cooke (18), toxicologists have the responsibility of determining the level of exposure that is either safe or harmful to human health, animals as well as to the environment. It is important to understand the relationship between dosages given to a person and those administered to different organs and body tissues. Studies conducted on a whole animal are very important for ensuring proper use of beneficial chemicals to avoid causing harmful effects to receiving organs. The process of making medicines, beauty products, foodstuffs, and chemicals for use in the environment requires mixing of different kinds of chemicals in different proportions (Cooke 23). Animal testing helps researchers and toxicologists determine the exact amount of dose to recommend for use and avoid the harmful effects to humans. Researchers are trusted with the responsibility of determining the appropriate level of exposure, developing knowledge of how chemicals cause injury, and providing treatment in the event of poisoning. Research is crucial in developing safe products for use such as new drugs, plastic containers, cleaning products and detergents and foodstuffs. Another supporting aspect of animal testing is their benefits to human beings. Vaccines protect people from disease by stopping infections even before they can attack the antibodies. Arguably, “vaccines, like other public health successes such as clean water, are a victim of their own success” (Stratton, Jane, and Robert 9). Their mode of working is by mimicking disease causing agents and stimulating the immune system to build up defense against them (Stratton, Jane, and Robert 18). They fight the virus back before replicating to harmful levels. Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDs), a disease caused by HIV infection, has gone from a rapidly spreading fatal disease to a slow pace (Whiteside 3). This research experiments were conducted on the genetic reactions of macaque monkeys to the HIV virus. It is through animal research that anti-retroviral drugs for HIV-AIDs patients were discovered. Animal testing is not only important in ensuring and enhancing human and animal health, but also plays a big role in protecting the environment. Such studies add quality to life by raising life expectancy of the people, improving the living standards, which is in most cases a result of the use of chemicals in our lives. Basic laboratory experiments involving both animal and non-animal things are useful in understanding the potential health hazards surrounding our world. These dangers arise from exposure to various processes which include industrial processes, air pollution, water pollution and contamination, soil pollution, hazardous wastes and natural toxins. Scientists find experiments useful while determining the levels of a substance that is safe to both animals and the environment and the hazardous levels. Use of lead leaded paints and gasoline for example, scientists have found out that it results to a high exposure of lead in homes and along highways. It is claimed, “The use of mice in testing this revealed that even small amounts of lead exposure to an animal has significant effects in the nervous system and behavior of the particular animal” (“National Academics Press” 43). These effects become evident in humans when subsequently long-term studies are conducted by use of regulated exposure in v large numbers of people. It is out of these experiments that the importance of reducing lead exposure to the environment was clear. Increased release of hazardous substances has led to global warming and in some cases acid rain and such problems brought about by environmental changes give rise to new challenges facing the public health science (McCally 4). In conducting research on short-term and long-term safety of chemicals before their release to the market, it is important to use animals. Long term toxicity studies are important in supporting and informing long-term clinical studies to ensure that the chemical is safe for use. If during the research, the chemical proves that its long exposure to the testing animal has side effects researchers draw an inference that the product harbors significant risks to human and environmental health and such a substance is therefore prevented from being released to the market (Burdon 2). Studies using animals have revealed that combining information from animal testing with knowledge on human beings demonstrates that extended exposure of some drugs to either the environment or animals may produce similar results to those of testing animals. Another important reason that animal should be conducted is because testing animal is necessary when there are no substitutes that replace of using animals. Computer technology can never simulate the real reaction in living beings, which is vital in conducting experiments. Animal testing also come handy when carrying out tests of new cosmetics before people could use them. Cosmetics and beauty products are applied to the human body for cleansing, improving attraction, beautification, and altering the appearance without causing any changes in the body structure or its functions. However, according to Wiechers, “While some of them are absolutely safe, some of them are extremely toxic, and some are in between” (Wiechers 11). Therefore, considering the risks involved in research, it is only safe to use animals instead. This is even more important considering that computer programs may not be in a position to simulate real medical phenomena. Again, animal testing can be used together with computer simulations to give even better results. Thus animal testing is indeed important and necessary for advancement in the medical research field. Animal testing has an extensive range from medical and biological fields to psychological field. Most discoveries and innovations in the medical world attribute their success to animal testing. Indeed, due to its success worldwide, millions of experiments aimed at understanding diseases and their treatment have been conducted using animals for example relieving pain (Smith 167). More interestingly, animals have been extensively been used for diverse study on human behavior. For instance, operand conditioning in animals has been extended to understanding some elements of human behavior. Therefore, it is important to use animals for research. According to many animal rights activists, animals have rights just like human beings do. Sadly, humankind have ignored animal rights and instead exposed animals to overwhelming pain. Indeed, many animals have been killed and tortured in the process of performing experiments. According to (Rudy 20-28), the pain animals go through can be described as torturous, tormenting, and cruel. However, the benefits gained from such research far outweigh such the compromise on animal rights. Significant achievements have been made in the medical world through animal research. Through animal research, diseases such as polio, measles malaria among others can be treated safely. Additionally, cure for domestic animal diseases have been found through animal research thereby validating the need for using animals for scientific research. In conclusion, animals play a big role in research and testing and their contribution to big innovations in the world both in the field of medicine, cosmetics, and environment cannot be over looked. Proposals for new methods of research for example the use of cells and computer testing have come up, but their accuracy and credibility is questionable. This means that they have to be supplemented with animal experiments. In comparison to the prize that volunteer people will have to go through in experimenting, the pain that animals go through is negligible. Trying to stop animal testing by certain groups’ means that we are ready as a world to face more deaths and damages arising from use of substandard products and forget any new inventions from our researchers. Nobody will be in a position to offer solutions to most of our arising problems. This is like grinding the world to a standstill, and the question we should ask ourselves is, are we ready to pay these prizes for the sake of human rights? Works Cited “National Research Council”. Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals: Eighth Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2011. Print. Burdon, Roy. The Suffering Gene: Environmental Threats to Our Health. Montreal [Que.: McGill-Queens University Press, 2003. Print. Cooke, Roger. Uncertainty Modeling in Dose Response: Bench Testing Environmental Toxicity. Hoboken: Wiley, 2009. Print. McCally, Michael. Life Support: The Environment and Human Health. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2002. Print. Rudy, Kathy. Loving Animals: Toward a New Animal Advocacy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011. Print. Smith, Wesley. A Rat Is a Pig Is a Dog Is a Boy: The Human Cost of the Animal Rights Movement. New York, NY: Encounter Books, 2012. Print. Stratton, Jane and Robert, Kathleen, Jane, Durch, and Robert, Lawrence. Vaccines for the 21st Century: A Tool for Decisionmaking. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press, 2000. Print. Whiteside, Alan. Hiv/aids: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print. Wiechers, Johann. Science and Applications of Skin Delivery Systems. Carol Stream, IL: Allured Publ, 2008. Print. Read More