Animal Testing

Is It Worth It?

Bailey Anderson
Advisor: Mindi Harman
April 30, 2015

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by

the way its animals are treated.
- Mahatma Gandhi

INTRODUCTION
Animal testing has been a controversial subject for decades now even
though animal testing has had many breakthroughs from Insulin to eyeliner.
Research on living animals has been practiced since at least 500 BC. An
estimated 26 million animals are used every year in the United States for
scientific and commercial testing. Animals are used to develop medical
treatments, determine the toxicity of medications, check the safety of products
destined for human use, and other biomedical, commercial, and healthcare uses.
Scientists insist that animal testing is the only way to test new medicines and
sometimes cosmetics. They believe that testing chemicals on animals makes
products safer for humans. (5)
On the other side there are animal rights advocates who object when it
comes to making animals suffer for the benefit of humans. 95 percent of animals
that are tested on are not protected by the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
Humans should seek animal free alternative testing methods for testing products,
rather than using traditional animal testing methods. But animal testing comes

with responsibility to test wisely and ethically. We torture and heartlessly kill
creatures that we arrogantly consider lesser beings simply at our disposal. Just to
produce some makeup animals are tortured and blinded by the types of test they
do on the animals in laboratories. Because of the vanity of people this is what
the animals have to deal with: The laboratories are awful and the animals are
sometimes hardly fed. They are mostly forced to live in the filth. Sometimes their
vocal cords are removed to keep them quiet. We are cutting down the last forest
that provides for the farm cattle. Also toxic chemicals and sewage are being
dumped into the water in which they live. We wear and display the tusks of the
last few of their species in our homes, and we pour cosmetic items into their eyes
and body parts to determine the harmful effects they might cause on humans. (3)

HISTORY
Animals have been used repeatedly throughout history repeatedly for
biomedical research. From 258 to 384 BC Aristotle and Erasistratus performed
experiments on living animals. Galen was another scientist who practiced in
Rome in 199 to 217 AD. He was like a god in the history of medicine. He
conducted experiments on animals to understand anatomy, physiology,
pathology, and pharmacology on a bigger scale. An Arab physician in the twelfth

century moorish Spain named Ibn Zuhr performed surgical procedures to

animals before human patients. (1)
In recent years the practice of using animals for research has come under
severe criticism by animal protection and animal rights groups. In several
countries laws have been created to make the practice on animals more
humane. People have been debating on the ethics of animal testing. As
Theodore Roosevelt stated Common sense without conscience may lead to
crime,but conscience without common sense may lead to folly which is the
handmaiden of crime. This quote has lots of meanings but in this context this
means Theodore Roosevelt was implying that testing on animals isn't a crime but
is not morally correct.

OPPOSING VIEWPOINT
Animal testing advocates believe that animals themselves benefit from the
results of the testing. If the vaccines were not tested on the animals, they would
have died from the disease they carried like rabies, distemper, feline Leukemia,
infectious hepatitis, etc. Treating the animals for heart diseases and remedies for
glaucoma and hip dysplasia have led to the creation of the pacemaker. (5)
Animal testing is also known for helping endangered species from
extinction including the tamarins of Brazil, the California condor, and

black-footed ferret. Koalas had a extreme case of sexually transmitted Chlamydia

and now is classified as an endangered species. Now the koalas are being tested
on for new Chlamydia vaccines that may stop the animals disappearances.
Advocates for animal testing often refer to stories like the following to
support their viewpoints. In 1937 a pharmaceutical company created a
preparation of sulfanilamide using diethylene glycol, also known as DEG, and
called the preparation Elixir Sulfanilamide. DEG is very poisonous to humans but
the pharmacist didn't know that at the time, he simply added raspberry flavoring
to the drug which dissolved in the DEG. Then the company marketed the
product. The drug led to mass poisoning and caused the deaths of more than a
hundred people. No animals were tested on before placing the product on
shelves. Similar disasters led to the passing of the 1938 Federal Food Drug and
Cosmetic Act required safety testing of drugs on animals before it was marketed.
(2)
Animals are very similar to humans. Their composition is like our own
composition. The scientist can use animals for the drugs and also cosmetics
products to estimate how they will react on humans.
Chimpanzees share about 99% of their DNA with humans, and mice are
98% genetically similar to humans. All mammals, including humans, are
descended from common ancestors, and all have the same set of organs (heart,

kidneys, lungs, etc) that function in essentially the same way with the help of a
bloodstream and central nervous system. Because animals and humans are so
biologically similar, they are susceptible to many of the same conditions and
illnesses, including heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Animal testing
proponents believe that by testing on animals we make sure that we are not
going to be exposed to any harmful toxins or chemicals. This also decreases any
health risks for the consumer. Without testing the products makes it a struggle
for the researchers to make a educated guess about their safety.
The following are more reasons proponents of animal testings use:
Healthcare products must be tested on to make sure they are safe to use. The
average american woman uses an average of 12 personal care products per a
day. Bug repellent can protect people for certain diseases and illnesses must
undergo a toxicological test which involves animals to be sold in the United States
and Europe. Animals need to be tested on to invent a vaccine for diseases such
as cancer, aids, stress and many others. The only other alternate to receive a full
bodily effect would be to use humans instead of animals. (3)
When's the last time you saw a guinea pig as a doctor? A president?
supporters believe the only cruel aspects of these experiments are when
something has already been proven and scientists keep experimenting with the
animals.

POSITION
The AWA was signed in 1966 in order to protect certain animals. The term
animal means any live or dead dog, cat, monkey (nonhuman primate
mammal), guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or other such other warm-blooded animal
that the scientist may determine is being used, or is intended for use, for
research, testing, experimentation, or exhibition purposes, or as a pet. (4) The
animals that are used for testing that are not covered under the Act are birds,
rats, and mice. These particular animals are bred for use in research. This is
because the animals are carefully chosen under the jurisdiction of the AWA.
Countless animals are kept captive for the fact that they are being used for
animal testing. They often get killed after testing is finished.
Drugs that pass the animal testing stage are not necessarily safe. For
example, in the 1950s a sleeping pill caused birth defects to 10,000 babies. This
sleeping pill was tested on animals before its commercial release. The later
testings on pregnant rats, mice, cats, and hamsters didn't result in birth defects
unless it was administered at a high dose. (2)
All suffering is undesirable, whether it be in humans or animals.
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. As English

philosopher Jeremy Bentham wrote in the 1700s, "The question is not, Can they

reason
? nor, Can they
talk
? but, Can they
suffer
?"
Animal testing uses billions of dollars that includes forty percent of all
research funds from the U.S. National Institutes of Health. An
unscheduled DNA

synthesis
animal test costs $32,000, while the in-vitro alternative costs $11,000.
A "
rat phototoxicity test
" costs $11,500, whereas the non-animal equivalent costs
$1,300. A "
rat uterotrophic assay
" costs $29,600, while the corresponding in-vitro
test costs $7,200. A two-species lifetime cancer study can cost from $2 million to
$4 million, and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) spends $14 billion of its
$31 billion annual budget on animal research.(5) The numbers of the animals
have been increasing and so have the funds.
Two of the most common animal tests are the Draize, or eye irritancy test
and the Lethal Dose 50 also know by LD50. The Draize test is performed almost
exclusively on albino rabbits, such as the Florida White, because they are cheap,
docile, and are not equipped with tear ducts to wash away the chemicals.
During the test the rabbits are immobilized in a group of rabbits together with
only their head protruding. A solid or liquid is placed in the lower lid of one eye
of the rabbit. Substances being tested for variations of mascara to aftershave
and even oven cleaner. The rabbits eyes are clipped open and observed at
intervals of 1, 24, 48, 72 and 168 hours. It is important to note that during this

test anesthesia is rarely used. Reactions include inflammation, ulceration, rupture

of the eyeball, corrosion and bleeding. This is a very inhumane act and should be
stopped. Consumer awareness about these atrocities should be a priority for
advocacy groups.

CONCLUSION
Humans have to understand that this planet is not only ours, but the animals as
well. Albert Einstein once said, Our task must be to free ourselves. By
widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole
of nature in its beauty. In essence, the means of living a healthy and fulfilled life
is to embrace and respect all life on this planet. There are a number of things that
mankind can do to prevent this cruelty from continuing, it is simply a matter of
taking the initiative to inform and involve yourself and others. Every individual
effort is a step towards the annihilation of animal cruelty. Companies such as
Procter and Gamble only claim certain things while doing the opposite. This is
probably true with hundreds or companies and organizations. Animal testing is
both ethically wrong and scientifically incorrect. There is really no reason why
animal testing is useful at all. Somehow, the public is told that animal testing is
very useful and the animals used are not harmed in any way. When this common

belief no longer exists, animal testing will then hopefully end, and animals will no
longer be tortured.

WORKS CITED

1.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3123518/
http://apecsec.org/animal-testing-on-cosmetics-pros-and-cons/
2.sciencemuseum.org.uk
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animal-testing-ba
d-science/
3.
http://healthresearchfunding.org/pros-cons-animal-testing/
Humane Society of the United States, "Undercover Investigation Reveals Cruelty
to Chimps at Research Lab," humanesociety.org, Mar. 4, 2009
4.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2013-title7/html/USCODE-2013-title7-c
hap54.htm
5.
http://animal-testing.procon.org/

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