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Catherine Manguso

Professor Batty

English 28

1 May 2017

That Shade of Lipstick Doesnt Look Good on You; or that Rabbit

Each year in the United States it is estimated that approximately 26 million live animals

are used for testing. Various tests are performed on animals for human research, including

medical research for vaccinations and medications. We also have commercial testing which

includes testing animals for cosmetics, household cleaning products, pesticides, industrial

chemicals and more. Although many researchers report and document the pros through animal

research, many argue this testing is not necessary. Animals are caged and subjected to the

constant poking and prodding involved in the research. It entails tortuous testing daily which is

cruel and stressful for the animal and causes a lot of fear. The animals feel the pain, stress, and

fear just like humans do along with other emotions such as satisfaction and excitement. However

the majority of animals used in testing are being killed during the tests and many are euthanized

after the experiments.

The majority of animals used for research, education, and testing are rats and mice.

Guinea pigs, hamsters, dogs, cats, rabbits, nonhuman primates, and other animals are studied as

well. Rats and mice are bred specifically for research and about half of the dogs and cats in

research are also bred for the same reason, many come from shelters and pounds. Researchers

also use animal dealers as the primary source for the rest the animals they claim to need for their

testing and research. Dealers must be licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
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and must adhere to the Animal Welfare Act standards of care; do they actually follow these

standards? Animal testing is also taught and practiced in biology classes in elementary school all

the way through graduate programs where students dissect frogs and earthworms. This type of

animal testing is also used for advanced training in surgical techniques for veterinary and

medical students.

Animal testing is incredibly cruel as animals are kept in cages which clearly violates the

animals right to live without suffering and pain or emotional distress. Animal experiments are

not limited to just poking or prodding, animals can be cut, burned, poisoned, turned into

alcoholics or drug addicts, given diseases such as cancer or arthritis, crippled, blinded, starved,

and suffer brain damaged. Most of the time the animals are denied any pain relief because of the

fear of not getting the effect of these tests and experiments. Animals feel pain in many of the

same ways that humans do; in fact, their reactions t pain are virtually identical (both humans and

animals scream for example). When animals are used for product toxicity testing or laboratory

research, they are subjected to painful and frequently deadly experiments. (Lonestar) Think

about that lipstick or mascara some have to have; think about the process of its manufacture.

While researching this, a paper published through Lonestar College wrote about Two of

the most commonly used toxicity tests are the Draize test and the LD50 test, both of which are

infamous for the intense pain and suffering they inflect upon experimental animals. In the Draize

test the substance or product being tested is placed in the eyes of an animal (generally a rabbit is

used for this test); then the animal is monitored for damage to the cornea and other tissues near

the eye. This test is intensely painful for the animal, and blindness, scarring and death are

generally the end results. The Draize test has been criticized for being unreliable and a needless

waste of an animals life. The LD50 test is used to test the dosage of a substance that is necessary
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to cause death in fifty percent of the animal subjects within a certain amount of time. To perform

this test, the researchers hook the animals up to tubes that pump huge amounts of the test product

into their stomachs until they die. This test is extremely painful to the animals because death can

take days or even weeks. According to Orlans, the animals suffer from vomiting, diarrhea,

paralysis, convulsion, and internal bleeding. Since death is required endpoint, dying animals are

not put out of their misery by euthanasia (154). In his article entitled Time to Reform Toxic

Tests, Michael Bals, a professor of medical cell biology at the University of Nottingham and

chairman of the trustees of FRAME( the Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Animals in

Medical Experiments), states that the LD50 test is scientifically unjustifiable. The precision it

purports to provide is an illusion because of uncontrollable biological variables (31). The use of

the Draize test and the LD50 test examine product toxicity has decreased over the past few years,

but these tests have not been eliminated completely. Thus, because animals are subjected to

agonizing pain, suffering and death when they are used in laboratory and cosmetic testing,

animal research must be stopped to prevent more waste of animal life. (Lonestar)

Many would argue that we need to continue with animal testing. Some believe animal

research aids finding drugs and treatments to improve health and medicine. Treatments for

cancer and HIV drugs, insulin, antibiotics, vaccines and many more treatments have been made

possible through animal testing. Moreover, drugs can have significant dangers and testing allows

researchers to initially gauge the safety of drugs prior to trails on humans. They feel harm is

reduced to the human, along with saving humans life as well as improving the quality of ones

life. Some believe it would be immoral to research and experiment on humans so animals take

their place in such experiments.

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Animals and humans are not exactly the same; therefore reactions to drugs will not

always be the same. Some alternatives to animal testing include in vitro (test tube) test methods

and models based on human cell and tissue cultures. Computer models and simulations,

computerized patient-drug data base and virtual drug trials are used as well as stem cell and

genetic testing methods, non-invasive imaging techniques such as MRIs and CT Scans.

Not only are animals cells used without consent, but humans too, as noted in the

Henrietta Lacks research, when a slice was taken from her cancerous tumor of her cervix back in

1951 and has been used without her knowledge; worldwide for many different research projects.

(Skloot)

In conclusion, animal testing is cruel and you can make a difference by choosing to

support companies that support alternative methods besides animal testing on their products,

look for the words cruelty free or not tested on animals.

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Works Cited

Save the Animals: Stop Animal Testing. Lonestar College. N.p,2017. Web. 18Apr.2017

www.lonestar.edu/stopanimaltesting.htm.

Skloot Rebecca. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Broadway Books, 2011.

Using Animals for Testing; Pros Versus Cons. Using Animals for testing: Pros Versus Cons,

www.aboutanimaltesting.co.uk/using-animals-testing-pro-versus-cons.html. Accessed 18 Apr.

2017