Manesis Naylor 1

Maia Manesis-Naylor

Mr. Smith

Junior ELA

6 November 2023

Ban Animal Testing: Out with the Old and In with the New

“Over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused in US labs every

year”(Dosomething.org). These detrimental injuries occur from brutal animal testing behind

walls of unethical companies. Animals subject to research is a terrible reality that still is

somewhat prevalent in the United States today. The products tested on animals pose many risks

to the animal, and result in death at some point, either after one or a few testing processes. While

many would argue that animal testing leads to new developments that may be beneficial to the

medical field, animal testing should be banned in the United States due to the unethical actions

that are taken in its process.

The road taken by companies that did, or do utilize animal testing is very brutal with

heartbreaking outcomes. The testing of drugs, cosmetics, and many other products on animals

has been a part of the research and biology industry for thousands of years. Animal testing use to

be one of the only ways to glean knowledge about new products that might not have been

possible without the animal models, but this was before new technology and techniques arose.

The Humane Society of the United States explains that “It is estimated that more than 50 million

animals are used in experiments each year” (Humane Society of the United States). Imagine over

half of the pets in this country being abused -with few consequences to the abusers-, and that is

the amount of animals used in testings. What this fact from the Humane Society does not

include, is all of the effects of animal testing. Since the testing is practiced in an unethical way
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where it is inevitable to “cause the animals physical as well as psychological distress and

suffering” (Humane Society International), the severe harms to rightless animals greatly

outweigh the unguaranteed good outcomes. Though many people who are in favor of animal

testing might argue these harms are not a crucial concern, the risk-to-reward ratio concerning

animal testing is not beneficial enough to sacrifice so many animals (rats, birds, dogs, monkeys,

etc.). The unethical concerns and severe impact that animal testing has on many different animals

must be stopped by an animal testing ban to break this pattern of unreasonable suffering.

The evidence from fairly recent actions that concern animal testing help prove these

unethical actions unnecessary to industries. Legislators and nonprofit organizations provide this

evidence that describes the possible inaccuracy and decreasing need for animal testing, which

contributes to the argument and fight for stopping animal testing. Why utilize animal testing that

has alternatives that are far less detrimental, when even the President proves animal testing to be

unnecessary? The National Library of Medicine explains the President’s action in favor of

ending animal testing, “On December 29, 2022, President Biden signed into law the FDA

Modernization Act 2.0. The bill essentially refutes the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act of

1938, which mandated animal testing for every new drug development protocol… Recent

advancements in science have begun to offer increasingly viable alternatives to animal testing”

(Han). The act mentioned above that was refuted by the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, was passed

then in 1938 due to the increasing negative effects of produced drugs, which triggered the

thought that animal testing was needed for safety. In 2022, this premise was proven unnecessary

when the original requirements set were removed. Since Biden, a major legislator, initiated the

fact that animal testing was no longer required when developing new drugs, it must not be a

necessary factor. Once the lack of need for animal testing is recognized, the alternative testing
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methods will hopefully become widely used by every state in the US. Further proof that an

animal testing abn is necessary stems from the great amount of inaccuracy found after animal

testing, and “aside from the ethical issues they pose…provide little understanding of how

chemicals behave in the body, and in many cases do not correctly predict real-world human

reactions” (Stone). These inaccuracies are not beneficial whatsoever, wasting resources and time

for a practice so harmful. With the increase in alternatives, the risks on animals and humans is

certainly not worth it. Admittedly, even though numerous animals do have similarities to

humans, the amount of inaccuracy found significantly trumps this fact. Now the alternatives that

are being discovered are much more reliable and necessary than animal testing, have been

proven by the government and many animal rights organizations to be the better option for

society going forward.

Animal-testing supporters mostly advocate for this practice because they see many

benefits for the science and tech industry, along with confirmation that new products are

effective and safe. Testing on animals can produce additional information for new “antibiotics

and other medications, as well as immunizations and surgical procedures"(Curators of The

University of Missouri) Advancing in the medical and science fields does greatly benefit society

and provides new conclusions, but this rarely comes from animal testing. Animal testing is a

factor in medical successes that is “not supported by proper, scientific evidence but by opinion

and anecdote. Systematic reviews of its effectiveness don’t support the claims made on its

behalf” (Pound). In reality, the common inaccuracy of animal testing and better options including

“physico-chemical methods and techniques utilizing tissue culture, microbiological system, stem

cells, DNA chips, micro fluidics, computer analysis models, epidemiological surveys and

plant-tissue based materials''(Arora), have more impact on discoveries. Countless of these

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techniques for ethical drug and cosmetic testing are being developed by the biotech industry, and

are all more recent ways to get even better results than gained from animal testing. Animal

testing does not provide relevant information today because of its inaccuracy and unrealisticness

compared to new, more specifically engineered tools available for testing. Back before the

biotech industry was weaker and less innovative, animal testing did create significant impacts

from some of its minor benefits, whereas today there is a very small need for animal testing and

the harm it will always carry with it.

In the United states, animal testing should be banned on account of the irrelevant

presence it has in many research industries and the animal cruelty it stands for. While many

states have made laws dismantling animal testing requirements, companies can still test items on

animals if they choose to, like a decent amount of cosmetic companies. Animal testing is

becoming more and more unnecessary as the science industry improves and gains new skills, but

still causes an extreme amount of suffering towards the animal victims. Major companies are

switching to more humane practices (mostly pharmaceutical companies), which indicates an

overall ban will likely be supported by the greater public and, therefore, should be initiated in the

near future. According to the Humane Society of the United States, “280+ chimpanzees are still

waiting to be moved out of labs and into sanctuaries even though invasive experiments on

chimpanzees in the United States ended in 2015”(Humane Society of the United States). 8 years

later, and the Animal testing effects still negatively are impacting society. The cycle of unethical

actions to animals in the form of drug or cosmetic testing is only going to become endlessly

harmful,whether the testing is more or less prevalent, therefore action taken sooner rather than

later will contribute more to help put over 100 million animals out of misery.
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Works Cited

“Animal Testing and Research Achievements.” Foundation for Biomedical Research,

fbresearch.org/medical-advances/animal-research-achievements?share=facebook&nb=1.

Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

“Animal Testing and Experiments FAQ.” The Humane Society of the United States,

www.humanesociety.org/resources/animals-used-experiments-faq#:~:text=animals%20in

%20laboratories%3F-,How%20many%20animals%20are%20used%20in%20experiment

s%20each%20year%3F,in%20the%20U.S.%20or%20worldwide. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

“Animal Use.” Animal Use - MU School of Medicine,

medicine.missouri.edu/centers-institutes-labs/health-ethics/faq/animal#:~:text=Scientific

%20research%20on%20animals%20helps,%2C%20medicine%2C%20and%20related%2

0fields. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

Arora, T, et al. “Substitute of Animals in Drug Research: An Approach towards Fulfillment of

4R’s.” Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, U.S. National Library of Medicine,

Jan. 2011, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3224398/.

“11 Facts about Animal Testing.” DoSomething.Org,

www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-animal-testing#:~:text=Over%20100%20

million%20animals%20are,dangerous%20or%20don’t%20work. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

Hajar, Rachel. “Animal Testing and Medicine.” Heart Views : The Official Journal of the Gulf

Heart Association, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Jan. 2011,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3123518/.
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Han, Jason. “FDA Modernization Act 2.0 Allows for Alternatives to Animal Testing.” National

Library of Medicine, U.S. National Library of Medicine,

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36762462/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2023.

“How Did the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act Come About?” U.S. Food and Drug

Administration, FDA,

www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-basics/how-did-federal-food-drug-and-cosmetic-act-come-ab

out#:~:text=The%20political%20will%20to%20effect,maimed%2C%20and%20killed%2

0many%20people. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

Humane Society International / Global. “About Animal Testing.” Humane Society International,

6 July 2023, www.hsi.org/news-resources/about/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

Pound, Pandora, et al. “Where Is the Evidence That Animal Research Benefits Humans?” BMJ

(Clinical Research Ed.), U.S. National Library of Medicine, 28 Feb. 2004,

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC351856/.

Stone, Kristin. “About Animal Testing.” Humane Society International, 6 July 2023,

www.hsi.org/news-resources/about/.

“Taking Suffering out of Science.” The Humane Society of the United States,

www.humanesociety.org/all-our-fights/taking-suffering-out-science. Accessed 6 Nov.

2023.

“Why Are Animals Used in Research.” Why Are Animals Used in Research? | Science,

Medicine, and Animals | The National Academies Press,

nap.nationalacademies.org/read/10089/chapter/3. Accessed 6 Nov. 2023.

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H Argument Essay Rubric

Skill Not Yet Foundational Proficient Advanced

Identifies a basic Appears in first Thesis establishes a

Thesis claim paragraph complex claim

Thesis establishes a Establishes

topic and a claim counter-argument in
claim

Topic sentences Topic sentences have Topic sentences have

Claims/Reasons contain basic claims clear and distinct clear and distinct
claims that relate to claims that relate to
the thesis the thesis and make
nuanced points that
consider alternate
perspectives or
counterarguments

Uses some brief Uses multiple pieces Uses a variety of

Evidence examples, or one of evidence (personal evidence (see
example, to support experience, previous column) that
each claim; may all anecdotes, survey, supports each claim;
be personal research etc.) to different types of
experience support each claim evidence in each
body paragraph

Use of reliable
outside sources

Brief explanation of Explains how Provides strong

Analysis how evidence evidence supports explanations of how
supports topic topic sentence/claim evidence supports
sentence of individual of individual topic sentence and the
paragraphs paragraphs and the thesis while also
thesis considering
counterarguments
Includes at least 2
concessions in body Seamlessly mentions
paragraphs concession, and
offers
response/rebuttal
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Counter- Makes some mention Structure Well-structured and

Argument of opposing argument counter-argument effective
which: counter-argument
Mentions the which:
opposing argument, Establishes an aspect
some mention of how of the opposing
opposing argument argument, clearly and
may be disproven logically disproves
the argument
Some elements Heading is correctly No errors in MLA
MLA Format missing or some errors formatted format
in MLA format
Pages are numbered

In-text citations are

correctly formatted (if
sources are used)

Works Cited format:

hanging indent,
double-spaced,
alphabetized, starts on
a new page (if sources
are used)

Works Cited: each

source entry is in
correct MLA format (if
sources are used)
Shows evidence of Quotes are correctly Quotes are correctly
Conventions basic proofreading integrated most of the integrated
time (if sources are
used) Shows evidence of
careful proofreading
Follows essay
organization (claims in Includes fluid
topic sentence; transitions between
evidence; analysis; ideas
concluding sentences)
Eliminates wordiness
Shows evidence of
proofreading
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Utilizes mostly simple Some varied sentence Consistently varied

Fluency sentence structures structures sentence structures

Some use of advanced Advanced use of

vocabulary vocabulary; including
use of active verbs