Renata Fraga Cardoso
Professor: Hannah
Griggs
Writing Practice
April 30th, 2014
Animals
are generally used for experimentation in laboratories. There are many kinds of experiments that are done using several species
of animals. They are used to test medications, lotions, make up and
studies of disease. These products are tested on
animals supposedly to prove their safety, efficacy, and liability. Although this practice does not
work the way that it is expected, it still continues. According to People for
the Ethical Treatments of animals (PETA), the
largest animal rights organization in the world, "More than 100 million animals every year suffer and
die in cruel chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics tests as well as in biology lessons, medical training exercises, and curiosity-driven medical experiments at universities". Even though this practice is
defended by many people, the efficacy of it was never proven. In addition, many
experiments on animals do not work the same way in human beings. People should
not use animals in experiments because they suffer during the test, this
practice does not provide reliable results and people are disrespecting the
rights of the animals.
One of
the most popular test using animals, is toxicology in cosmetics. In general, Cosmetic
Companies test products such as, lipstick, mascara, shampoo and colognes.
Each test needs certain amount of
animals for a specific purpose. There
are many tests such as, skin and eye sensitization,
irritation and corrosion, acute oral, inhalation and
dermal toxicity, carcinogenicity or
combined carcinogenicity and chronic toxicity. They usually use mice, guinea pigs,
rats, and rabbits for their tests. However, the tests required can
differ according to regulatory agency and product type. In addition, these animals suffer during these tests. Many
of them become blind, suffer from skin redness, bleeding, ulcers. According to
The Humane Society of the United States, "Pain relief is rarely provided and
the animals used are always killed at the end of each test". This quote
shows that people who make experiments with the animals, expose them to maltreatment.
In
addition, many animals such as cats, dogs and chimps are used in researches at
universities. In general, they are used to test medicines and medical
experiments. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) affirm that monkeys
are addicted to drugs; cats are deafened and have holes drilled into their
skulls; sheep and pigs have their skin burned off; and rats have their spinal
cords crushed. Tiny mice are made to grow tumors nearly as large as their
entire bodies, kittens are purposely blinded, and rats are made to suffer
seizures. In addition, dogs are intentionally poisoned with experimental drugs;
chimpanzees are infected with debilitating diseases; and, rabbits have
grotesque devices implanted into their bodies. It shows the cruelty with these
animals.
Even
though some of these tests are required by the law in organizations such as,
Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) and United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the efficacy of these
experiments were never proven .
Furthermore, there are many tests on animals that are not required by these
organizations and still continue. In addition, the reaction in animals in
response to these chemicals is not the same compared to human beings. Many of
these tests provide miscellaneous results that are not significant.
Furthermore,
there are many reasons to not use animals in these experimental tests. For
example, animals and human beings have differences in terms of physiology,
anatomy and metabolism. According to American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS),
"Acetaminophen, for example, is poisonous to cats but is therapeutic in
humans; penicillin is toxic in guinea pigs but it has been an invaluable tool
in human medicine; morphine causes hyper-excitement in cats but it has a
calming effect in human patients; and oral contraceptives prolong
blood-clotting times in dogs but increase a human’s risk of developing blood
clots". It is obvious that this practice must be replaced to another
technique more reliable.
In
addition, many researches do not give reasons to use animals in their
experiments. Some of them do this practice without communicating with the organizations
responsible for it and do not respect the rights of the animals. They expose
the animals to bad conditions, torture the animals during the experiments and
kill them after the procedures. One famous case of cruelty in animals
occured at University of
Wisconsin–Madison (UW). According to
PETA, for decades this University has used countless cats in their experiments.
The cats were imprisoned, cut into, and killed in cruel and useless “sound
localization” experiments. Records from
PETA show
that experimenters justified the use of 30 cats
per year not by saying that the experiments would lead to improvements in human
health but rather by stating that they needed to “keep up a productive
publication record that ensures our constant funding". Unfortunately, it
is just one example of cruelty with the animals.
Another
important reason to stop using animals in these experiments is that people are
disrespecting the rights of the animals. They are being mutilated alive,
tortured, stressed out, exposed to bad conditions and killed after the
experiments. Some people justify that the animals do not suffer like humans,
but it is not true. They feel pain, hunger, thirst, loneliness, sadness like
human beings. In addition, some animals are not included by Animal Welfare Act
(AWA). The law includes primates, dogs, cats, rabbits, gerbils, and other
animals. However, there are some species that are not covered by AWA such as,
rats, mice, and birds. The problem is that these animals represent 90% of all
animals used in laboratory. According to (AAVS), "Their exclusion leaves
significant loop-holes in the law's effectiveness and is detrimental to the
excluded animals welfare". This example shows that the law has to change
to protect the rights of all animals.
In addition, there are other ways to test products
without using animals. Many companies have changed their tests to these new
experiments without using animals. These new experiments are more reliable than
tests using animals because they use human cells. According to PETA,
"Instead of measuring how long it takes a chemical to burn away the cornea
of a rabbit’s eye, manufacturers can now drop that chemical onto cornea-like
3-D tissue structures produced from human cells. Likewise, human skin cultures
can be grown and purchased for skin irritation testing. These and dozens more
tests now in use today are faster and more accurate at predicting human
reactions to a product than the old animal tests ever were.". There is another
procedure called In
vitro (in glass) testing,
such as studying cell cultures in a petri dish. According to Procon, a nonprofit public charity, it can produce more relevant results than animal testing
because human cells can be used.
Another
way that companies can do to avoid animal testing is change ingredients in
their products that require this kind of experiment. Some ingredients require
animal testing by the law because they are toxic. Many companies have changed
the formula of their products to avoid animal testing. It is a good alternative
that companies can do to avoid this practice. In general, the companies that do
not do experiments in animals inform it in the packaging of their products. Through
this information, people can choose to buy products of the companies that do
not use animal testing. If people stop
to buy the products from industries that do animal testing, these industries
will be forced to look alternative experiments or change the ingredients in
their products that are not necessary animal testing.
Even though some people affirm that through these
experiments using animals had helped many people in cure of diseases and the
efficacy of the products, it is not a completely true. When a new medication is
developed, it is necessary to test this medication in an amount of human beings
to make it able to sell. In addition, in case of consumer complaint, these
tests have not proved effective in a company's defense. Furthermore, these
tests are expensive, slow and not reliable.
In
conclusion, there are many reasons to stop this practice. People have to work for
the end of animal testing. This practice is cruel and does not work the way
that is expected. It provides miscellaneous results that is not reliable. In
general, these tests on animals are not effective and do not work in the same
way in humans. It means that this practice can be used in vain and millions of
animals are dying for no reason. In addition, there are alternative ways to
avoid this practice that is more reliable, faster and cheaper. Through this
action, people can save millions of animals and respect their rights.
Works Cited
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "Animal testing 001". PETA. Web.
April 27th. 2014. <http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animal-testing-101>
Humane Society of the United States."Cosmetics Tests That Use Animals". HSUS.
March 5th, 2014. Web. April 27th. <http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/cosmetic_testing/tips/common_cosmetics_tests_animals.html>.
People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals. "Animals in Medical Experiments". PETA. Web. April 28th.
2014. <http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animals-medical-experiments/>.
Animal Testing ProCon. "Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?". Animal Testing ProCon. Web. April 28th.
2014. <http://animal-testing.procon.org/#background>.
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