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Pros and Cons To Animal Testing (Credible Source #2)

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Pros and Cons To Animal Testing (Credible Source #2)

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People think that testing on animals is the only way to find cures for diseases, to make drugs, and make cosmetics safe. The animals are put through testes such as being poisoned, burned, irradiated, gassed, shocked, and cut up. Animals should not have to go through that pain. They are deprived from seeing the world and their home. It is wasting money that should be used for meaningful science.

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The Issue

The word "vivisection," or animal experimentation, does not begin to describe how hundreds of millions of animals are used in science every year, let alone capture the physical pain, deprivation and emotional distress experienced by animals who are cut up, poisoned, burned, irradiated, gassed, shocked, dismembered or genetically designed to suffer. Nor does it reflect the tragedy of each individual life-however short and brutal-caged in an artificial environment which deprives them of experiencing life as nature intended.

Millions of animals-primates, dogs and cats, rats and mice, rabbits, pigs, horses, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and yes, guinea pigs-are sacrificed as a result of animal experimentation. They are used in basic and applied research, for the safety testing of products, to be bred or harvested from the wild to be killed and cut up for dissection, and as living factories of byproducts to be used as ingredients in drugs or laboratory experiments.

NAVS opposes the use of animals in scientific research and product testing for both ethical and scientific reasons. Animal experimentation is cruel. It is an outdated and inadequate methodology that can produce invalid, often misleading results. It wastes money and resources and sidetracks meaningful scientific progress.

Background

The practice of animal experimentation has been debated for centuries-seemingly pitting the pursuit of knowledge and human health against compassion for animals. Society has allowed animal experimentation because people have been convinced that it was a "necessary evil," and that it was the only way to find cures for human diseases and to make drugs, cosmetics and other products safe. Secrecy and security have ensured that people are unaware of what happens behind the laboratory doors or wrongly trust that the laws intended to prohibit cruelty to animals include protection for animals used in research.

Defenders of animal experimentation argue that nonhuman animals are enough like humans to make them scientifically adequate models of human diseases or to test treatments or the safety of products. They also contend that other species are different enough from people to make it ethically acceptable to use them in experiments.

NAVS argues that it is the way that humans and nonhuman animals are similar that provides the basis for the ethical objection to animal experimentation. Perhaps the English philosopher, Jeremy Bentham, said it best when he asked, "The question is not, can they reason? Nor, can they talk? But can they suffer?"

There is little doubt that some breakthroughs in the past were made as a result of animal experimentation; but the questions being asked of science today are more complex and society has grown in its respect and appreciation for other sentient creatures, due in large part to studies of their behavior and intelligence. Sophisticated technologies available today and under development promise new and better avenues for investigation. Many of these approaches offer human relevance and insight in ways that animal models have not, and cannot, provide.

How NAVS Helps

If people could witness what is done to animals in the name of science, they would share our outrage and impatience with the all too slow rate of progress in ending these practices. Since 1929, NAVS' response to the cruel, archaic, wasteful and unnecessary practice of animal experimentation is to work towards the advancement of science without harming animals. We look to science to inspire, to inform, to heal and to help solve the world's problems. Science is about discovery and exploration. Science replaces ignorance and superstition with knowledge. But scientific investigation that exploits innocent animals as objects to use and abuse, causing unspeakable suffering and death, is not progress. We know that every animal is amazing in their own way-intelligent, social, complex-designed by evolution to be the best at what they do and deserving to be treated with respect. Investing in more humane methods of scientific inquiry will lead to better science.

NAVS is a respected leader of advocates for animals and better, more humane science. We are dedicated to ending harmful, flawed and costly animal experiments through the advancement of smarter, human-relevant research and the promotion of animal-friendly changes to laws and policies:

We work with respected scientists to advance modern, human-relevant scientific methods that replace the use of animals through our support of the International Foundation for Ethical Research (IFER) and other promising collaborations with the scientific community.

NAVS' Advocacy Center empowers supporters to take action that promotes greater protection for animals through the legal/legislative and policy-making processes.

We provide innovative teaching tools and resources that replace animal dissection while enhancing education in the life sciences. NAVS also provides incentives to encourage young scientists to pursue careers that advance science without harming animals.

NAVS' Sanctuary Fund provides emergency financial assistance to support animals retired from laboratories and those threatened by natural and man-made disasters.

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The Cruelty and Waste of Animal Experimentation | National Anti-Vivisection Society

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The word "vivisection," or animal experimentation, does not begin to describe how hundreds of millions of animals are used in science every year, let alone capture the physical pain, deprivation and emotional distress experienced by animals who are cut up, poisoned, burned, irradiated, gassed, shocked, dismembered or genetically designed to suffer.

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More than 100 million animals suffer and die every year in cruel chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics tests. The animals are being abused to "help" humans. Just because a product was shown to be safe in animals does not mean that it will be safe to use in humans.

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Right now, millions of mice, rats, rabbits, primates, cats, dogs, and other animals are locked inside barren cages in laboratories across the country. They languish in pain, suffer from extreme frustration, ache with loneliness, and long to be free.

Instead, all they can do is sit and wait in fear of the next terrifying and painful procedure that will be performed on them. The complete lack of environmental enrichment and the stress of their living situation cause some animals to develop neurotic types of behavior such as incessantly spinning in circles, rocking back and forth, pulling out their own fur, and even biting themselves. After enduring a life of pain, loneliness, and terror, almost all of them will be killed.

There are many non-animal test methods that can be used in place of animal testing. Not only are these non-animal tests more humane, they also have the potential to be cheaper, faster, and more relevant to humans.

While some of the experimentation conducted on animals today is required by law, most of it isn't. In fact, a number of countries have implemented bans on the testing of certain types of consumer goods on animals, such as the cosmetics-testing bans in the European Union, India, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, and elsewhere.

Millions of Animals Suffer and Die in Testing, Training, and Other Experiments

More than 100 million animals suffer and die in the U.S. every year in cruel chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics tests as well as in medical training exercisesand curiosity-driven medical experiments at universities. Animals also suffer and die in classroom biology experiments and dissection, even though modern non-animal tests have repeatedly been shown to have more educational value, save teachers time, and save schools money. Exact numbers aren't available because mice, rats, birds, and cold-blooded animals-who make up more than 99 percent of animals used in experiments-are not covered by even the minimal protections of the Animal Welfare Act and therefore go uncounted.

Examples of animal tests include forcing mice and rats to inhale toxic fumes, force-feeding dogs pesticides, and dripping corrosive chemicals into rabbits' sensitive eyes. Even if a product harms animals, it can still be marketed to consumers. Conversely, just because a product was shown to be safe in animals does not guarantee that it will be safe to use in humans.

Taxpayer and Health Charities' Dollars Fund Experiments on Animals

Animals are also used in toxicity tests conducted as part of massive regulatory testing programs that are often funded by U.S. taxpayers' money. The Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Toxicology Program, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are just a few of the government agencies that subject animals to crude, painful tests.

The federal government and many health charities waste precious dollars from taxpayers and well-meaning donors on animal experiments at universities and private laboratories, instead of supporting promising clinical, in vitro, epidemiological, and other non-animal studies that could actually benefit humans.

A Century of Suffering

Experimenters have tortured animals in laboratories throughout history. " Without Consent," PETA's interactive timeline, features almost 200 stories of twisted experiments, including ones in which dogs were forced to inhale cigarette smoke for months, mice were cut up while still conscious, and cats were deafened, paralyzed, and drowned. Visit " Without Consent " to learn about more harrowing animal experiments throughout history and how you can help create a better future for living, feeling beings.

What You Can Do

Each of us can help prevent animal suffering and deaths by buying cruelty-free products, donating only to charities that don't experiment on animals, requesting alternatives to animal dissection, demanding the immediate implementation of humane, effective non-animal tests by government agencies and corporations, and calling on our alma maters to stop experimenting on animals.

With the help of our members and supporters, PETA campaigns globally to expose and end the use of animals in experiments. Some of our efforts include the following:

This multifaceted approach yields scores of victories for animals imprisoned in laboratories every year.

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Right now, millions of animals are locked inside cages in laboratories across the country. They languish in pain, suffer from frustration, ache with loneliness, and long to be free.

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Animals are being tested on and it causes serious injury and discomfort to them. There are alternatives to animal testing, but many people do not follow the rules. There are also animal dealers that acquire animals from shelters and sell them to research. There have been some reports of dealers abducting family pets from the street

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Despite efforts to reduce the number of animals used in scientific studies and minimize the pain and distress that animal subjects experience, some animal rights activists believe that the benefits of animal experimentation do not justify the cruelties involved. These activists call for an end to all animal testing.

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Many people believe that animal testing is beneficial for research. They are not being abused because they have research veterinarians who take care of them. During testing, they have to use anesthesia and postoperative when appropriate. They make the testing as humane as possible. They also try to make it comfortable for the animal.Testing on animals not only helps make new medicine for humans, but also animals.

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Medical Research Involving Animals Is Humane and Necessary

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In the following viewpoint, Americans for Medical Progress argues that biomedical research using animals is critical for advancing the ability to prevent, diagnose, and treat disease in people and animals. Americans for Medical Progress contends that animals used in research are protected by laws and guidelines and cared for by highly trained professionals who work to minimize discomfort.

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Testing on animals for medicine does not give accurate results. Artificial diseases that are induced in animals in a laboratory are never identical to the natural diseases in humans. Also, when someone pays taxes, gives donations, and buys a lottery ticket, some money goes to funding animal experimentation. Animals being tested on are forced to inhale toxic fumes, have their skin burned off, have holes drilled into their skulls, and have their spinal cords crushed. These are all forms of abuse. No animal should have that happen to them

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Medical Testing on Animals Is Cruel and Unnecessary

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Many animals go through animal testing for make-up. They test on animals because they know they can get as many animals for their research and can dispose of them whenever they want.

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Bright Eyes: End Cosmetics Testing on Animals

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This is an example of a monkey being kept in a cage for experimenting. It is a inhumane way to treat animals.Being kept in a cage deprives them from seeing nature.

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Animals should not be kept this way. They are not living the way animals are suppose to be living. They should be outside running freely, not in a cage.

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Monkeys Being Experimented On (Image #4)

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Monkeys Being Experimented On (Image #4)

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Many animals are researched on for science. They say it is to help make medicine for humans, but you will not get an accurate result because animals are very different from humans

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Bunny After Being Experimented On (Image #3)

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Bunny After Being Experimented On (Image #3)

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After being experimented on, the animals may die or develop some sort of disease. The animals will live the rest of their life in pain and fear.

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Many animals are being tested on all the time. Monkeys are common because they show the most similar human characteristics. Animals being tested on suffer from the experiments. They are forced to breathe toxic fumes, be kept in small cages, be isolated, have their skin burned, and shocked.

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An Animal Being Experimented On (Image #2)

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An Animal Being Experimented On (Image #2)

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This picture is an animal being strapped down to a table. It is cruel in every way. It is not right for the animal