Animal  Are Not Ours to Test On!

By: Rachel Dodge      
  Did  you know that millions of animals are locked up, suffering just because of a product that is much less valuable than their life? Every day they are put through pain and anguish. That’s just the beginning of the trials they face in captivity. There is more to the situation than meets the eye. Research is expensive; costing companies millions of dollars. Animals are NOT the same as us humans and it’s just plain dangerous and cruel. I suggest that you listen to me now before an experiment costs you another life; animals are not ours to experiment on and they never will be.

Humans vs. Animals

            Two percent? No, less than that. Try 1.16 percent. That’s the number of human diseases that are seen in animals according to the article “33 Reasons Why Animal Testing is Pointless” (www.peta2.com). Companies and corporations lock animals up in laboratories just to try and create medicine for diseases that are not found in animals. This shows just how pointless animal testing is. Not only that but drugs passed in animals do not always pass in humans. In the same article, it stresses the fact that 92 percent of the drugs that are passed during animals immediately fail in humans because they are either dangerous, useless, or both. So I ask you this question; why would you risk testing a dangerous drug on an innocent animal? Do they not have feelings and share pain like we do? Yes, they do.

Testing is Dangerous!

            Besides being different from humans, animals undergo very dangerous conditions while being tested on. The conditions lack environmental friendly features also time to run and play. According to the article, “Animal Testing 101” (www.peta.org), the conditions create unusual behavior changes such as running in circles, rocking back and forth, pulling out their own fur, and biting themselves. This all shows the fact that testing effects the way animals live and can ruin their lives. In addition to that, it also causes health issues. According to the same article, the animal’s blood pressure spikes when approached by a human. Not just that, the animals also suffers loneliness, pain and fear. This is proof that not only is animals different from humans, but they also are harmed with physical pain. In labs, animals are forced to inhale toxic fumes, eat pesticides, and drink poisonous chemicals (www.peta.org). In the end many animals don’t get to live a happily ever after; they end up dying off from a life of ruined eyes, lungs, and relationships with humans.

Testing Cost Lots of $$$

            Finally, animals should not be tested on because it’s very expensive. Every year the U.S spends millions of dollars on research and testing. To be exact, the U.S drug industry spends $50,000,000 per year in research (www.crueltyfreeinternational.org). That’s millions of pointless dollars on a cause that’s (trust me) not worth funding. No, I’m not saying that cancer research is pointless, but I am saying that it’s pointless to waste research on animals. Speaking of cancer research, a two-species lifetime cancer study costs two to four million dollars according to the Humane Society. Yes, I’m talking about anywhere between 2 and 4 million dollars. And that is just the amount of money invested in research and tests. The animals also have to be fed, housed, cared for, and treated with drugs. That is a lot of money depending on the number of animals, which leads to my next point. You have to count the money spent on buying the animals for testing which all depends on the company. (www.aboutanimaltesting.co.uk) so that’s millions of dollars that’s going toward a pointless, dangerous, expensive cause.

People Say Animals Should be Tested on

Others argue that animals should be tested on because they are very similar to humans. They say that animals like the chimpanzee share DNA with humans. It may be true, but all in all, animals have many differences with humans. Scientists at universities struggle using animals for testing because of the amount of cellular differences between animals and humans. Some people also disagree that there are no other options for testing, saying that the human and animal body are both so complicated. I disagree. Scientists are in fact finding alternative subjects to test on such as single human blood cells and animal blood cells. This works just as well or even better than testing on the whole animal. These are reasons why animals should be used for testing.

In conclusion, animal testing is expensive, dangerous, and pointless; animals should not be used in labs for testing and experiments. People do say that it has many benefits such as the similarities between animals and humans also being the only test subject, but are you really going to let that get in the way of protecting animals? Think about it for a minute, if we don’t do something, every single product will have been tested on animals. Imagine every time you pick up a bottle of shampoo that has been tested on animals; that’s another life lost. I think we need to stop all this cruelty before it gets out of hand.