Should Animal Testing be Banned?
By: Kayla Bogusz
Should animal testing be banned? Yes, animal testing should be banned for many reasons. Some of these reasons why animals should not be for animal testing costs countries millions of dollars, most animals used in testing and research are not protected by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), a lot of the animals used for the experiments usually do not make it out alive, animals give scientists misleading information and the animal used in the experiments are treated inhumanely.
Animal testing costs millions of dollars to put on experiments. According to change.org, “Animal testing in America is expensive-most of it can be cut including alternative methods used, and the money better spent for the nation's elderly such as Medicare and for medicine rather than lining the pockets of wealthy researchers who are living off the pork of the land's waste of public funding. The USA spends $16 billion dollars annually for animal testing at taxpayers' expense and is subject to massive waste and mismanagement of taxpayers' dollars.” Also, according to hsi.org, “Some animal tests take months or years to conduct and analyze (e.g., 4-5 years, in the case of rodent cancer studies), at a cost of hundreds of thousands—and sometimes millions—of dollars per substance examined (e.g., $2 to $4 million per two-species lifetime cancer study). The inefficiency and exorbitant costs associated with animal testing make it impossible for regulators to adequately evaluate the potential effects of the more than 100,000 chemicals currently in commerce worldwide, let alone study the effects of myriad combinations of chemicals to which humans and wildlife are exposed, at low doses, every day throughout our lives.” Overall animal testing costs countries millions of dollars to experiment on animals and most of the animals do not even survive.
Millions of animals are not surviving these experiments. 100,000-200,000 of animals die due to being mistreated or harmful drugs. 100,000 - 200,000 animal deaths is a loss of millions of money. When the animal that is being tested on dies the scientist loses money because they are also losing the product that is being tested and the resources. According to Hsi.org/news-media/statistics “Only a small proportion of countries collect and publish data concerning their use of animals for testing and research, but it is estimated that more than 115 million animals—including mice, rats, birds, fish, rabbits, guinea pigs, farm animals, dogs, cats, and non-human primates—are used and/or killed in laboratory experiments each year around the world.” (Humane Society International) Millions of animals are dying due to animal testing which is making the scientists lose millions of money.
The animals that are being used in the testing are not protected by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) was signed into law in 1966. It is the only Federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers. Other laws, policies, and guidelines may include additional species coverage or specifications for animal care and use, but all refer to the Animal Welfare Act as the minimum acceptable standard. Due to animals not being protected by these laws, animals being used for testing are being treated in an inhumane way. According to Animal-testing.procon.org “According to Humane Society International, animals used in experiments are commonly subjected to force-feeding, forced inhalation, food and water deprivation, prolonged periods of physical restraint, the infliction of burns and other wounds to study the healing process, the infliction of pain to study its effects and remedies, and "killing by carbon dioxide asphyxiation, neck-breaking, decapitation, or other means.” (Procon.org) Animals are also made to keep their eyelids held open by clips, sometimes for multiple days, so they cannot blink away the products being tested. (Procon.org) Animals that are being used for testing and that are not being protected by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) are being treated inhumanely and the animals are dying.
Animal testing can give scientists misleading information on the drug they are testing. Some of the drugs the scientists test may not be harmful to the animal they are testing on so it passes as a safe drug but it is a harmful drug to humans. According to Connectusfund.org, “A majority of the drugs that passed animal tests, 94% to be exact, failed in human clinical trials.” “100 of the drugs designed to treat strokes worked on animals, but completely failed in humans.” “ Over 85 vaccines for HIV worked well in primates, but failed in humans.” “The arthritis drug Vioxx, which turned out great on animals, was really bad news on humans because it caused more than 20,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths.” (Editor on chief Regoli) Animal testing can give the scientists misleading information on the drug they are testing, so animals make very poor test subjects.
So, should animal testing be banned? Some still may argue why it shouldn’t be banned but there are many reasons why animal testing should be banned. Animal testing should be banned because it costs the US and other countries millions of dollars. Also, animal testing should be banned because most animals used in testing and research are not protected by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) which leads to the animals being mistreated, a lot of the animals used for the experiments usually do not make it out alive, animals give scientists misleading information. So, animals should not be used for testing.
Works cited:
Procon.org
hsi.org
Change.org
Hsi.org/news-media/statistics
Connectusfund.org-Editor on chief Regoli
Animal testing costs millions of dollars to put on experiments. According to change.org, “Animal testing in America is expensive-most of it can be cut including alternative methods used, and the money better spent for the nation's elderly such as Medicare and for medicine rather than lining the pockets of wealthy researchers who are living off the pork of the land's waste of public funding. The USA spends $16 billion dollars annually for animal testing at taxpayers' expense and is subject to massive waste and mismanagement of taxpayers' dollars.” Also, according to hsi.org, “Some animal tests take months or years to conduct and analyze (e.g., 4-5 years, in the case of rodent cancer studies), at a cost of hundreds of thousands—and sometimes millions—of dollars per substance examined (e.g., $2 to $4 million per two-species lifetime cancer study). The inefficiency and exorbitant costs associated with animal testing make it impossible for regulators to adequately evaluate the potential effects of the more than 100,000 chemicals currently in commerce worldwide, let alone study the effects of myriad combinations of chemicals to which humans and wildlife are exposed, at low doses, every day throughout our lives.” Overall animal testing costs countries millions of dollars to experiment on animals and most of the animals do not even survive.
Millions of animals are not surviving these experiments. 100,000-200,000 of animals die due to being mistreated or harmful drugs. 100,000 - 200,000 animal deaths is a loss of millions of money. When the animal that is being tested on dies the scientist loses money because they are also losing the product that is being tested and the resources. According to Hsi.org/news-media/statistics “Only a small proportion of countries collect and publish data concerning their use of animals for testing and research, but it is estimated that more than 115 million animals—including mice, rats, birds, fish, rabbits, guinea pigs, farm animals, dogs, cats, and non-human primates—are used and/or killed in laboratory experiments each year around the world.” (Humane Society International) Millions of animals are dying due to animal testing which is making the scientists lose millions of money.
The animals that are being used in the testing are not protected by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) was signed into law in 1966. It is the only Federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, transport, and by dealers. Other laws, policies, and guidelines may include additional species coverage or specifications for animal care and use, but all refer to the Animal Welfare Act as the minimum acceptable standard. Due to animals not being protected by these laws, animals being used for testing are being treated in an inhumane way. According to Animal-testing.procon.org “According to Humane Society International, animals used in experiments are commonly subjected to force-feeding, forced inhalation, food and water deprivation, prolonged periods of physical restraint, the infliction of burns and other wounds to study the healing process, the infliction of pain to study its effects and remedies, and "killing by carbon dioxide asphyxiation, neck-breaking, decapitation, or other means.” (Procon.org) Animals are also made to keep their eyelids held open by clips, sometimes for multiple days, so they cannot blink away the products being tested. (Procon.org) Animals that are being used for testing and that are not being protected by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) are being treated inhumanely and the animals are dying.
Animal testing can give scientists misleading information on the drug they are testing. Some of the drugs the scientists test may not be harmful to the animal they are testing on so it passes as a safe drug but it is a harmful drug to humans. According to Connectusfund.org, “A majority of the drugs that passed animal tests, 94% to be exact, failed in human clinical trials.” “100 of the drugs designed to treat strokes worked on animals, but completely failed in humans.” “ Over 85 vaccines for HIV worked well in primates, but failed in humans.” “The arthritis drug Vioxx, which turned out great on animals, was really bad news on humans because it caused more than 20,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths.” (Editor on chief Regoli) Animal testing can give the scientists misleading information on the drug they are testing, so animals make very poor test subjects.
So, should animal testing be banned? Some still may argue why it shouldn’t be banned but there are many reasons why animal testing should be banned. Animal testing should be banned because it costs the US and other countries millions of dollars. Also, animal testing should be banned because most animals used in testing and research are not protected by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) which leads to the animals being mistreated, a lot of the animals used for the experiments usually do not make it out alive, animals give scientists misleading information. So, animals should not be used for testing.
Works cited:
Procon.org
hsi.org
Change.org
Hsi.org/news-media/statistics
Connectusfund.org-Editor on chief Regoli
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