Exploratory Paper
26 March 2012
Original Title
Animal Experimentation plays an important role in today’s medical and pharmaceutical advances, but many question the morality of such a use of animal life. Whether you argue that testing different products and drugs on animals is necessary or not, this has become an integral part of developing products. From that Tylenol you pop to get rid of your headache, to that perfect shade of pink lip gloss, animal testing is used in order to produce the simplest household items. Today, in the United States, it is federal law that requires all pharmaceuticals, food additives, cosmetics, and garden chemicals to undergo a series of tests, including animal testing, before being available to general public. It is estimated between fifty and a hundred million vertebrate animals worldwide are being used fro animal experiments. While many believe that animal experimentation is a crucial part of research and safety, others argue the morality of this issue. Another point of view some share is a mixture of both opposing views, where one believes that animal experimentation should only be condoned in the field of medical research but not for vanity reasons. Our environmental surroundings have a great influences on our opinions and which stance we might be more willing to take.
People who are against animal testing tend to take on the argument of the ethical boundaries that animal testing is crossing. However, there are numerous non-emotional stands against this issue as well, such as, differences in a human's anatomy compared to a rat or guinea pig, or any other species. An example of this took place during the research of lung cancer, the differences were present prevented from further understanding the disease better. The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 does enforce rules of how the animal should be taken care of properly, however, this does not apply to mice and rats which account for ninety-five percent of the animals