Animal Testing Shouldn’t Be Banned
Ayoub Laissouf
Animal Testing Shouldn’t Be Banned The exploitation of animals in experimentation isn’t a new issue because it could be traced back to the fourth century BC when Aristotle and his contemporaries used to perform experiments on animals. Besides, in the twelfth century, the Arab physician Avanzoar used animals to test his new surgery techniques before performing them on humans. Today, due to the advancement of the medical field, physicians rely excessively on animal testing. However, some organizations such as “PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)” stand out against animal testing alleging that it harms animals and calling for it to be outlawed. I believe that animal testing shouldn’t be banned for several reasons (“Animal Experimentation”)1 The opponents claim that animals are susceptible to pain, and during the tests, animals are inflicted with severe injuries, and most of them die. However, that isn’t true because before physicians test drugs on animals, they test them on cells first, and they only use them on animals if they pass the cell test. Moreover, they inject the animals with adequate anesthesia to mitigate their pains during the test. In addition, the test is performed by experts who make sure to minimize the suffering of the animals by great extent. (“Animal Research Pros and Cons”)2 Animal testing plays a pivotal role in medical research and without it, combating critical diseases is futile. Thanks to animal testing, vaccines have been developed for deadly disease such as Hepatitis B, Herpes Simplex, rabies, Polio, mumps, malaria, and rejection of organ transplantation. Furthermore, if the experimentation on animals were banned, techniques like bypass surgeries, organ transplants, and heart surgeries wouldn’t be achieved, and many humans would perish. The reason behind its importance is because some animals’ body system resembles humans’ to certain extent. For
Animal Testing Shouldn’t Be Banned The exploitation of animals in experimentation isn’t a new issue because it could be traced back to the fourth century BC when Aristotle and his contemporaries used to perform experiments on animals. Besides, in the twelfth century, the Arab physician Avanzoar used animals to test his new surgery techniques before performing them on humans. Today, due to the advancement of the medical field, physicians rely excessively on animal testing. However, some organizations such as “PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)” stand out against animal testing alleging that it harms animals and calling for it to be outlawed. I believe that animal testing shouldn’t be banned for several reasons (“Animal Experimentation”)1 The opponents claim that animals are susceptible to pain, and during the tests, animals are inflicted with severe injuries, and most of them die. However, that isn’t true because before physicians test drugs on animals, they test them on cells first, and they only use them on animals if they pass the cell test. Moreover, they inject the animals with adequate anesthesia to mitigate their pains during the test. In addition, the test is performed by experts who make sure to minimize the suffering of the animals by great extent. (“Animal Research Pros and Cons”)2 Animal testing plays a pivotal role in medical research and without it, combating critical diseases is futile. Thanks to animal testing, vaccines have been developed for deadly disease such as Hepatitis B, Herpes Simplex, rabies, Polio, mumps, malaria, and rejection of organ transplantation. Furthermore, if the experimentation on animals were banned, techniques like bypass surgeries, organ transplants, and heart surgeries wouldn’t be achieved, and many humans would perish. The reason behind its importance is because some animals’ body system resembles humans’ to certain extent. For
Cited: Naik, Abhijit. “Using Animals for Research” March 24, 2011. . 10/12/2013. Nair, Tulika. “Animal Experimentation” September 27, 2010 . . 10/12/2013. Shandilya, Ranjan. “Animal Testing Pros” December 16, 2011. . 10/12/2013.