Animal Testing
Animal testing is one of the most long-lasting and controversial questions. It even seems that this issue will remain unresolved forever. A lot of people are in favor of the idea that all the medical experiments should be conducted on animals. Scientists provide us with a long list of pros of animal testing, giving the examples of how it helped to heal serious diseases or even saved people’s lives. And it is hard to argue with that. Firstly, we all know that thanks to some researches on animals, the vital substance hormone insulin was discovered and it continues saving lives of diabetics until today. (“The Discovery of Insulin”). The cases of polio were reduced by a thousand times within only 20 years due to the positive results that were shown after testing this vaccine on our four-legged friends. (“Poliomyelitis”) Animal experimentation has also made a great contribution to the crucial progress in understanding and coping with such illnesses as cancer, brain injury, leukemia, fibrosis, malaria, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, and many others, and it also became an instrument for the development of pacemakers, cardiac valve substitutes, and anesthetics. If not for the chimpanzees, we would not have a vaccine for hepatitis B and C as well. (“Diseases & Research”). Of course, these results were gained at the expense of countless suffering animals. Unfortunately, there is no equal substitution for them so far, because the system of any living being is a thousand times more complex than the system of any computer. Only the animal body can react in a similar way to our body.
The defenders of animal rights strongly disagree with this statement. They claim that the human body is very different from the body of the animal, and the drugs that are helpful for the mouse will not work for people. And all these tests, experiments and researches are only the waste of time, money and poor animals’ lives. Almost all drugs that were tested on animals had failed to be good for people. The large amount of money that was spent on feeding, housing and treating during all these experiments, could have been spent on medicines for people, who are in need.
Both sides have constructive arguments and are ready to defend their positions. Those, who support animal testing, claim that the absence of animal rights is a good thing; otherwise, we could not hunt and eat meat to stay healthy and strong and could not make clothes to protect ourselves during the winter and cold weather. The opposite side considers it to be inhumane. The stance of the church is also a bit vague. It states that the interests of the people are above all, but at the same time we have to be merciful to those, who are much weaker than we are. On the one hand, these tests are really very painful and cause suffering to defenseless animals. All the awful manipulations conducted during the experiments can never be justified. These tortures include immobilization of animals, irritation of their skin and mucous membranes, keeping them in the unnatural for them environment. On the other hand, it would be also cruel to use people for such experimental purposes.
Taking into consideration all these facts, it is impossible to determine who is right in this so-called war. Recently, a new tendency has appeared. According to it, the scientists have to look for alternatives of animal testing and research. Some new inventions have already taken place. For example, the Harvard’s Wyss Institute has created chips that reflect human organs and cells structure and function. New methods of skin and mucous cell growth are becoming popular and more productive as well. (“Organs-on-Chips”). It can be used for tests, because it does not have emotions and, therefore, will not be scared, frustrated and feel pain. The scientists have also revealed that the human blood can be used for medical tests, and there is no need to make animals consume toxic and poisonous substances and irritate their eyes with corrosive liquids. There are also researchers, who work on creating computer models that will show us the process of tissue and tumor development, thus helping doctors indicate the causes and find the appropriate remedy.
Despite the growing number of alternatives, there still is a large amount of experiments on animals. And we still suffer from new diseases that appear every day. It seems that there is no way we could find out how to be healthy and live forever. That is why we have to concentrate on how to live honorably and do only decent things without hurting the creatures that are left at the mercy of us.
Works Cited
1. “The Discovery of Insulin”. Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. Accessed 7 Jan 2016. http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/insulin/discovery-insulin.html
2. “Poliomyelitis,” who.int, World Health Organization. Web. Accessed 7 Jan 2016. http://www.who.int/biologicals/areas/vaccines/poliomyelitis/en/
3. “Diseases & Research,” Animal Research.info, Web. Accessed 7 Jan 2016. http://www.animalresearch.info/en/medical-advances/diseases-research/
4. “Organs-on-Chips”, Wyss Institute, 2014. Web. Accessed 7 Jan 2016. http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpage/461/