Pros And Cons Of Animal Testing

It is not about whether animals can speak or reason, but if they can suffer (Jeremy Bentham). Throughout the mid to late nineteenth century, a spike in tests rose and an increase of animals were needed to experiment with. This rapid increase in animal testing heightened attention towards the abuse of animals during experimentation. This eventually led to the ban of animal testing for cosmetics in 1998 in Britain. (Site) Many people believe that using animals for experimentation is an accurate test for detecting responses with the human body, but research shows that the results collected are highly vulnerable to inaccuracy. The use of animals for experimentation can lead to physical/mental harm to them and furthermore causing unnecessary pain.
Choosing these alternative methods can help save lives of many animals. A cell-based alternative test has been created to more accurately detect harmful chemicals. “The standard test on pregnant rats to find out if chemicals or drugs may harm the developing baby can only detect 60% of dangerous substances. But a cell-based alternative (EST) has 100% accuracy at detecting very toxic chemicals” (Alternatives to Animal Testing). With this test people will not have to worry about harming future generations to come. Another test cell-based test, organs-on-chips, replicates human organs and their functions to show more accurate results. “Harvard’s Wyss Institute has created “organs-on-chips” thats contain human cells grown in a state-of-the-art system to mimic the structure and function of human organs and organ systems. The chips can be used instead of animals in disease research, drug testing, and toxicity testing and have been shown to replicate human physiology, diseases, and drug responses more accurately than crude animal experiments do” (Alternatives to Animal Testing). This test can help with research that can accurately determine responses to the human body with experimental drugs and chemicals. People are so worried about the environment, but are encouraging animal experimentation, which creates more pollution within the environment. “In toxicity testing, researchers breed, test, and ultimately dispose of millions of animals as pathogenic or hazardous waste. Cruelty-free testing is less harmful to the environment and creates less waste” (In Testing). Cruelty-free testing is environmentally friendly and ultimately safer. Instead of using animals and getting a ‘maybe’ result, people should consider using alternative methods to get a definite