The Animal Welfare Act (AWA)

Have you ever thought what goes into making your makeup, shampoo, medicine and even your toothpaste? At some point in their development these products may have been applied to the eyes and skin of live animals. Animal testing has been used as a mechanism in the advancement of cosmetics, medicine, and many everyday products (Moxley). Animal testing is a highly controversial topic that has divided people into groups that are against it or support animal testing (Klazema).
“An estimated 26 million animals are used every year in the United States for scientific and commercial testing” ProCon.org describes. Experimentation on animals has been found from as early to 500 BC. Although the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) protects many types of animals, it
does not protect them all. The Animal Welfare Act excludes mice, birds, fish, and reptiles for research. Animals are used to check the safety of products and develop medical treatments. (ProCon.org).
Animals are essential for research leading to many lifesaving cures and treatments (Trull). “Animal research has contributed to major advances in understanding and treating conditions such as breast cancer, brain injury, childhood leukemia, cystic fibrosis, malaria, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, and many others, and was instrumental in the development of pacemakers, cardiac valve substitutes, and anesthetics” (ProCon.org). These extraordinary developments would not have been possible without animal research (Trull).
Animals are biologically similar to humans. Chimpanzees share 99 percent of their DNA with human. Mice have 98 percent genetically similar to humans. All mammals, including humans have the same set of organs that function in essentially the same way. Animals are susceptible to many of the same conditions and illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes, and more (ProCon.org). For centuries animal testing have helped deepen our understanding of the human body (Trull).
Most cosmetics and health care products must be tested on animal to ensure their safety. On average an American women uses twelve personal care products a day. The US Food and Drug Administration endorse the use of animal tests to assure the safety of a product or its ingredients. Certain products must undergo toxicological testing which involves animals testing, in order to be sold in the United States (ProCon.org).
As positive as animal testing sounds, there are many negatives to it.
To satisfy the requirements of the testing process, animals are commonly subjected to force feeding, food and water deprivation for lengthy periods of time, physical restrainment, the infliction of burns and other wounds to study the healing process or other cruel and inhumane things are done to the animals (Klazema). ProCon.org explains “the Draize eye test, used by cosmetics companies to evaluate irritation caused by shampoos and other products, involves rabbits being incapacitated in stocks with their eyelids held open by clips, sometimes for multiple days, so they cannot blink away the products being tested” (ProCon.org). Experiments that inflict pain upon animals can occur without violating any law (Klazema).
Animal testing is extremely expensive. During the testing process, the animals involved must be taken care of. This means money for food, housing and any other treatment needs. This does not include the cost for the drugs used on the animals, which likely cost thousands of dollars in scientific research money to produce. Some experiments have testing on large amounts of animals and over a long period of time, causing the bill to add up
(Klazema).
Although animals are similar to humans, they are not exactly the same. Klazema describes “similar organisms taken out of their natural habitat many not react in reliable, consistent manner to a drug intended for human use”. Certain medication has the desired effect on mice, does not mean it can be translated to humans and get the same results. Medications that have proven to be successful on animals cause serious problems for humans (Klazema). A sleeping pill called thalidomide, tested on animals in 1950s caused 10,000 babies to be born with severe birth defects. Also an arthritis drug Vioxx successful on animals, caused more than 27,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths (ProCon.org). Some chemicals that are harmful to animals are valuable when used by humans, for such as Aspirin. Therfore animal tests may mislead researchers into ignoring potential treatments and cures for humans. Something that has not work for animals might have been a huge medical breakthrough for mankind (Klazema).
Animals can suffer like humans do. All suffering is undesirable, whether it is in humans or animals. As ProCon.org describes “discriminating against animals because they do not have the cognitive ability, language, or moral judgment that humans do is no more justifiable than discriminating against human beings with severe mental impairments” (ProCon.org).
Some tests have no purpose in the end. Some products being tested may never meet the requirements needed to release to the public due to any number of problems.
Animals are harmed or even killed to test these products out that never contributed to humans. At least when a cure or treatment is discovered due to animals testing that test animals served a purpose that helped humanity. Medical breakthroughs are one thing, but testing cosmetics products that we do not need is other (Klazema).
With today’s technology, there are alternative methods that can replace the need for test animals (Klazema).
An option instead of animal testing is vitro testing. The testing involves studying cells cultures in a petri dish. Vitro testing can produce more relevant results than ever because of the use of human cells (ProCon.org). Another option is micro-dosing, the administering of tiny doses to human volunteers. The doses are too small to cause adverse reactions, but researchers can get a good idea how humans would react to the drug without subjecting them to any risk. Another alternative to animal testing use human tissues grown in computer models that maps cellular structures and processes (Klazema).
In conclusion, animal testing is a highly controversial topic that has divided people into groups that are against it or support animal testing. Animal testing has contributed to many life saving cures and treatments. The testing has ensured cosmetics and health care products safety. Although animal testing has improved humanity, many people are against it. Animal testing is inhumane and cruel. Animals are put through suffering that is not necessary for cosmetics
products.