Why Is Animal Research Unethical

Psychologists use animals in their research to either get a better understanding of human thinking and behaviors or to find out more about the species they are studying. There are many reasons experiments can be unethical, but in some cases animal research can really benefit science. Using animals to experiment on is very controversial, and there are many groups and organizations fighting to protect animals rights. Finding ways to reduce animal research, and make it as ethical as possible is important since getting rid of it all together isn't very practical.
Scientists believe that animal testing is necessary for learning more about how the brain works and why humans do what they do. Researching on animals can also help find effective treatments
They believe that it is unethical and that the human benefits do not out-weigh the lives of millions of animals, especially when there are many alternatives that could be used. When humans are used in psychological experiments they chose to participant under there own free will and must be informed that they are able to back out at any point with no consequences. "Ethical guidelines"(APA.org 2012) for humans also include that deception cannot be used unless absolutely necessary and the results on the experiment must out-weight what the person went through. Experimenters must also debrief the participants once the study is over, this means telling them exactly what the research was for and what they found. Human participants are often paid for their help in some way as well. As for animals, "research guidelines"(APA.org 2012) are much more broad. Animals have no choice whether or not they're researched on and have no option to back out if they are uncomfortable or in pain. There is also no way for experimenters to debrief or pay the animals in anyway. In fact, after testing most of the animals are euthanized. Due to the injuries acquired during testing and the fact that they have lived in a lab their whole life, animals would be unable to survive being put into the wild and wouldn't be able to adapt to a house setting. Not only are animals killed after the experiments, but many suffer
The ultimate goal would be to ban animal testing all together but many believe that some means of animal testing is necessary for science. An alternative to replacing it altogether is "the "three r's" (replace, reduce, refine) which would be a new way of conducting testing using fewer animals. This means that some if not all animals would be replaced with cells, synthetics, and computers. Reduce means to use less species of animals, as well as using a smaller number of animals all together by getting more information out of each animal that they use. Last is to refine how the experiment is carried out. This means making sure the animals are not suffering and are getting proper care. All together this will make the use of animals more humane and could possibly lead to replacing it all