Our animal testing essays cover popular topics such as the pros and cons of testing, alternatives, why animal testing should be banned (or should not be), whether animal testing is necessary, ethical or justified, and more. Scroll down for a guide covering some of the main themes of this subject, together with a list of topics to include when writing your own essay about animal testing.
While animal testing for both medical and cosmetic research has long been accepted, there are many downsides to it. Animal testing can have misleading results, in which drugs that passed animal testing had entirely different effects on humans. It is also a cruel and inhumane way to conduct research. Animals can suffer just as humans … Read more
Every year thousands of animals are tested on for human safety and die of agonisingly long and painful deaths. Animal testing is a valuable asset in scientific research, drug development, health and medical research and cosmetic manufacturing. Animals are frequently used as a test subject since their body are very similar to the humans and … Read more
Animals have been used in scientific research for centuries. Many people disagree with it and feel that it is morally wrong, others agree with the idea and feel that it is the most ethical method for research. I survey was carried out in the United States of America which stated that 56% of the population … Read more
The use of animals in scientific research especially biomedical testing is still a controversial issue despite the benefits realized from it and the lives saved from the same. Society is sensitive to moral issues. Therefore, the interests of scientists in biomedical research using have indicated clearly that the use of animals in scientific research must … Read more
Throughout history animals have been used in scientific experiments, food production, clothing manufacturing, and within entertainment industries. As scientists develop new pharmaceuticals, or new product lines they are required to be tested for effectiveness and safety before human exposure. Many large companies choose to test on animals because it is more cost effective. Due … Read more
Sarah Simon Professor Moore and Professor Hejny Environmental Philosophy Friday, November 16th 2018 Animal Rights Many controversies have been witnessed as to whether non-human animals have their rights or not and the real meaning of the term animal rights. However, there are a few disagreements about the acceptance of the fact that animals too … Read more
It is a dark stormy night when suddenly the phone rings. I casually answer the telephone. It is my older sister informing me that our mother is in the hospital. She is going to need an emergency brain transplant. It takes me just a moment to drop everything I am doing and rush to the … Read more
Throughout my life, I have searched for the perfect diet balance that would support me in my daily activities. Coming from a family where each meal usually has meat on the plate, it made the challenge of stopping to eat meat harder than expected. Flowing in and out of different dietary plans has proven to … Read more
Animal testing is a cruel, archaic means of testing for medicines, cosmetics, or any other platform to be then used on humans. There is a single U.S. law that governs the use of the millions of animals captive in laboratories. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA), allows hundreds of innocent animals, across dozens of species, to … Read more
“The basis of all animals rights should be the Golden Rule: we should treat them as we would wish them to treat us, were any other species in our dominant position.” – Christine Stevens. Every year, a number of animals are locked up and subjected to tests that cause them pain and sometimes even death. … Read more
Moral philosophy is the backbone of the judgement used in determining what is just, fair and equal. Questioning the value of preserving the Earth and all of its inhabitants is a controversial topic; however, to what extent is it moral to sacrifice one being to save another? This is a question which still lies unanswered … Read more
Samantha Martinez What Is Animal Abuse and Why Does It Happen? An Annotated Bibliography Critical Preface Animal abuse has been a relevant tragedy throughout history; even in today's society many animals, from household pets to animals that roam free, are victims to abuse. There are many forms of animal abuse, some of which are … Read more
Introduction Animal rights movements can be described as social movements that attempt to end rigid moral and legal lines drawn between human and non-human animals. Britannica describes animal rights as, “moral or legal entitlements attributed to nonhuman animals, usually because of the complexity of their cognitive, emotional, and social lives or capacity to experience … Read more
Throughout the past century, animal testing has had a critical role in advancing medical research, hence providing an improved quality of life and wellbeing. Despite this, the issue of animal testing is a very topical one with many ethical issues associated with it. Our society would not have the advance medicine we have today if … Read more
New medications, treatments and therapies are of great importance to most people in the world today. Nevertheless, none of those therapies can be implemented unless they are properly and clinically tested. This is done by testing the various products with animals. Small animals such as dogs, pigs, rats, chimpanzees and monkeys are used as subjects … Read more
There are many controversial topics argued in the today’s world. People will always have different opinions on different views of widely discussed issues in the United States. The views of animal testing are one of the many widely controversial opinions that people debate about. Scientists have been using animals for testing since 500 BC (Background…). … Read more
Animal rights have been and continue to be heavily debated. Specifically, there has been a focus on whether or not it is morally permissible to eat meat or conduct biomedical research on animals. There are many disagreements on what treatment can be considered inhumane by moral definitions, whether animals actually have rights, and whether certain … Read more
“At least 115 million animals may be used in experiments worldwide each year.” This quote shows just how many animals are suffering as a result of animal research around the world each year. This happens as a result of animal testing, otherwise known as animal experimentation. This is a subject that divides public opinion. There … Read more
My goal in my public opinion piece is to raise awareness about the treatment of animals in animal agriculture farms. I want people to know what is really on their plates and how animals are treated throughout the meat and dairy production processes. I began by telling a narrative story of how I became vegan … Read more
When people hear someone declare their veganism, they often jump to the stereotype of a hippie gone rogue or a white girl on a vegetable rampage, soap-box ranting about their new favorite diet fad that just so happens to compliment their pseudo-humanitarianism. What they don’t realize is how high the stakes are for the Earth and … Read more
Animals have been used for testing and developing new ways for disease treatments. Without animal experiments, diseases like heart bypass surgery, organ transplants, cervical cancer, and vaccines for polio would not have been developed. Using animals as experiments helps develop different treatments and also helps find safer ways for treatments. Animal testing is the only … Read more
When people think of modern day medicines, vaccines and cosmetics they do not picture how they get out to the public. Animals are treated brutally when it comes to animal experimentation. Researchers act as if there is an unlimited amount of animals to test on. Thousands of animals are injured and killed due to tests … Read more
I. Introduction The Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) aims to understand, promote, and improve human health worldwide through the study of nonhuman primate (NHP) models, or in layman’s terms, monkeys. The ONPRC has a division solely focused on Reproductive and Developmental Sciences, who use the monkeys to study and someday prevent issues with human … Read more
Picture yourself living your life in the jungle peacefully, then suddenly captured by companies, lock on a cage for almost your entire lives, getting beaten up, bad environment, no food to eat nor water to drink. Then all of the sudden see yourself waking up from a running machine getting ready to separate your skin … Read more
In 2014, Ryan Moore adopted three 8-week-old bunnies from the Freedom + Rescue Project, a nonprofit organization that rescues animals from laboratories once they were done being experimented on. One of the bunnies died just after a month later, and another one after two to three years. Four years later, Moore noticed that his third … Read more
Over decades, the debate of animals being used for testing and experimentation to determine the safety of products has become heated. Society has drastically opposing sensitivity, opinion, and perception toward animals. On one side, many recognize and know animals to be companions. Some religions, such as Hinduism, even go as far as hosting festivals to … Read more
Over decades, the debate of animals being used for testing and experimentation to determine the safety of products has become heated. Society has drastically opposing sensitivity, opinion, and perception toward animals. On one side, many recognize and know animals to be companions. Some religions, such as Hinduism, even go as far as hosting festivals to … Read more
Food Inc is an American documentary, that exposes the industrial production of meat, grains, and vegetables around the country. This film concludes by claiming the entirety of our food industry is inhumane, and economically and environmentally unsustainable. The film keeps on looking at the present business by investigating the financial and lawful powers vast sustenance … Read more
Today, all over the world, there are helpless animals being harmfully tested on. Many think it is better to have test products on animals and have substantial animal testing research for products before said products are being released to purchase for humans. However, animal testing is extremely harmful and painful to the animals that … Read more
Arguments for & against use of laboratory animals, refinement/reduction/replacement techniques and ethical standards.
Animal cruelty is a term that evokes strong emotional responses and ethical concerns. At the heart of this issue lies animal testing, a practice deeply entrenched in scientific research and product safety assurance. Despite its controversial nature, animal testing remains a critical component of biomedical research, contributing significantly to medical advancements and safety evaluations. This … Read more
Introduction Scientific research is essential to solve problems and gain knowledge of both physical and theoretical aspects of the humans, wildlife, the planet, and the universe. The use of animals within scientific research has been custom since 3rd or 4th BC, documented in Ancient Greece from researchers such as the renowned Aristotle (https://www.nature.com/articles/3302371). In 1999, … Read more
Animal testing is a scientific experiment or test that is performed on living animals for assessing the effectiveness of new products and testing the human health. Animal testing helps to produce many vaccines and drugs. The many animals that are used for the researches are rats, mice, rabbits, hamsters, monkeys, and many more. The animals … Read more
Introduction Animal experimentation has played a major role in medical research, with some reviewers linking it back to researchers such as Aristotle in 384 – 322 BC (Hajar, 2011). Worrying for some, it is estimated that over 100 million animals are used annually for experimental reasons (RSPCA, 2019), that can be spread across areas such … Read more
Animal testing has been a topic of concern among the public for the past two centuries. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, animal testing began to become significant to scientific research and commemorated the beginning of experimental physiology, neuroscience and the antivivisection movement that we know of today (Zurlo et al., 1994). Vivisection has … Read more
The relationship between humans and animals is extraordinarily complex. There are a variety of subcategories and issues that revolve around the topic of human-animal interaction, including consumption of meat and animal products, animal testing, animal slaughter and our general relationship and companionship with other animals. Previous studies have shown that a high consumption of animals … Read more
Introduction There are many controversies of using animals in testing; whether this is for the cosmetics industry or the medicinal drugs industry, animals make up a crucial part of the development process, however, stem cell models could eventually make the use of animals unnecessary. Stem cell research offers a great promise for the understanding the … Read more
Throughout the years, PETA has made quite an impact on how people view animal rights since the early ’80s till now. Speaking up for animals all over the nation and breaking boundaries and calling out companies that mistreat these animals they make their standing ovation in today’s spotlight. PAST In order to comprehend what PETA … Read more
It is easy to claim, looking from the outside in, that bullfighting is outdated and, although it would be accepted as a sport some few hundred years ago, in the 21st century it is too violent and graphic to be enjoyed. To many, in and outside of Spain (1), bullfighting and other blood sports seem … Read more
Throughout history, diseases have plagued humans. The plague, polio, smallpox, and influenza are some examples of the deadly diseases that existed. Humans have suffered for years and years, until cures were found. Cures for many of these fatal illnesses have been found through the testing of animals. Animal testing is an important reason that … Read more
Animal testing is the process of experimentation on animal life for the safety of human products and medication (Animals Australia, 2018). In terms of the biological system of the body, animals are considered to be similar to humans, therefore a behavioural or medical reaction to a product on an animal will be similar of … Read more
As animal testing has been practiced, debate over issues in animal experimentation remains a concern. This guide reviews the historical experimentation of animal use and the opposing viewpoints of animal treatments. In addition, it aims to raise awareness and consideration for research animals by presenting specialized statistics which are conducted by the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) for better understanding of animal use in Canada. The last section of the guide highlights the efforts made towards finding alternatives to animal experimentation, and it is given for guiding the CCAC’s constituents and the general public in order to move on in the future.
Animal testing is known as using non-human animals in research and development projects. According to the recorded history, experimentation on living animals has been practiced as far back as 500 BC, as what professor Monamy(1958) mentioned:
“Live animals, both human and non-human, appear to have been first used in ancient times principally to satisfy anatomical curiosity. In the third century BC, the Alexandrian physicians Herophilus and Erisistratus are recorded as having examined functional differences between sensory nerves, motor nerves and tendons” (p.2).
Professor Woods (1999) wrote that it has been more than two thousand years for people to use animals for testing. For example, in the seventh Century China, early Chinese scientists made medications from pigs, deer, sheep and the forth. Besides, a Roman scholar (born about A.D 24), an Arab scientist (in the ninth Century) and Italy doctors were mentioned to use animals for studying the structure of the animals’ bodies, the human bodies and the vaccines development. Moreover, in the 20th Century, as new medicines and techniques such as open-heart surgery, radiation treatment and organ transplants developed, animal experimentation was an effective and common method for testing the results (pp.8-10).
However, the anti-vivisection activities have been going on for centuries. Some antivivisectionists pointed out that, though animals cannot talk in the same way as human beings, they have their own way to think and feel. Therefore, animals should be treated as human beings and should not be in experiments at all. As a result, many groups were formed to work for animal rights and be against the unethical treatment of animals in the 20th Century (Woods 1999, pp.15-17).
Animal Testing is not a new concern, and it remains controversial as it involves animals suffering pain of injury, being burned or poisoned, and sometimes being killed. For this reason, animal testing is called into question:
1. How animals are used in scientific testing?
2. Why does animal testing continue to be controversial?
3. What could scientists do for improving ethical animal experimentation?
Historically, animals were common used in medicines and psychological research. In the recent years, animals have been widespread used to different fields, such as makeup, shampoo, housecleaners and the like (Woods 1999, pp.8-10). In 2011, 3,333,689 animals were reported to the CCAC as used in science, including research, teaching and testing. The data conducted by the CCAC in 2011, presented valuable information to gain a better understanding of the animal use in science in Canada; it covered the number of animals used in science by type at CCAC-certified institutions and the proportion of animals used at CCAC-certified institutions for each purpose of animal use (2011, pp2,6) (See Table 1, Pie 1, pages 5&6 of the guide).
The table focuses on the number of animal used in science by type at CCAC-certified institutions in 2011. As the table pointed out, the three most-used animal types were fish (1,300,259), mice (1,090,730) and rats (225,971), accounted for 39.0%, 32.7% and 6.8% of the total.
The pie shows the proportion of animals used at CCAC-certified institutions for each purpose of animal use in 2011. Based on the pie, the highest proportion of animals used were for fundamental studies, accounted for 61% of the total, while 16.2% of these animals were used for medical and veterinary purposes. In addition, other three proportions of animals used were: 7.8% for regulatory testing, 10.3% for development of products and 4.7% for education and training.
Apparently, fish were the first most commonly used experimental animals in Canada in 2011.
“From the researcher’s point of view, fish provide simpler systems for the study of complex processes. Because fish are small, inexpensive, and relatively easy to house, they have become a ‘convenient’ test subject for many scientists”. For example, zebra fish have been used to study the development of sensory systems, and were also among a variety of fish used to determine how the kidney develops and functions” (N. Mak 2008).
Undoubtedly, animals share similarities to human beings in many ways. As the article titled Pros and Cons of Controversial Issues mentioned, “Chimpanzees share 99% of their DNA with humans, and mice are 98% genetically similar to humans” (2014). Therefore, animals can be used for varieties of purposes for scientific testing.
(Note: the sources are retrieved from the CCAC Animal Use Statistic 2011.)
Some people consider that animal testing is ethical as there was a very old belief pointed out that human beings are more important than other creatures because only humans can think. Therefore, humans have rights to use animals if they want (Woods 1999, p.7). Thomas Aquinas, an important Christian thinker thought that animals and have no rights because of the lack of souls, same as what professor Monamy(1958) mentioned in his book:
“Three hundred years earlier, St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) had declared in his Summa Theologiae that humans were unique; all other animals were incapable of rationality because they possessed no mind. Only humans had a soul and the power to reason. Without a soul, non-human animals were merely objects, devoid of personality or rights” (pp.9-10).
In addition, from some scientists’ point of view, animal experimentation can benefit human beings in many ways. According to the visuals conducted by the CCAC, in 2010, the high proportions of animals were used for fundamental research to broaden knowledge of essential physiological structures, functions and animal behaviors. Besides, animals were also used for medical or clinical studies to deal with human or animal diseases and disorders. Moreover, in regulatory testing such as testing the efficacy of a new medication, in the development of products or in education and training, animals were essential models as experimental targets to contribute to the development of many cures and treatments (2014, p.3).
In contrast, some opponents consist that animals are equal to humans because animals experience life exactly as human beings regardless of intelligence. Due to the similarities between species, animals have rights to be treated with respect and may not be killed or imprisoned for no reason (Cothran 2002, pp.31-33). Thus, even if animal experimentation has enabled the development in different areas, opponents of animal testing regard that it is cruel and inhuman because animals suffer from the experimentation while they are commonly forced fed, forced into inhalation and the like. (Pros and Cons of Controversial Issues 2014). Furthermore, even the supporters of vivisection often declare that animals are well protected by the law, the usual anti-cruelty laws are not applicable when undergoing the experimentations. (Cothran 2002, p.122).
Instead of the unethical animal experimentation, alternative methods were appealed to be considered. As the three R’s written by the two scientists, William Russell and Rex Burch in the 1950s, it provided guidelines for the effective conduct of animal testing. To be specific, the first R is replacement. For example, the use of in-vitro techniques, and the use of less-(or non-)sentient organisms are replacing alternatives. The next R is reduction, including using appropriate statistical techniques, not repeating experiment unnecessarily and the forth. The last R is refinement, such as the use of anaesthesia and analgesia, the recognition and alleviation of pain and the humane endpoints. In some countries, the principle of the three Rs’ is embodied in legislation, like in the UK and the 1986 European Community. Definitely, the improvement of ethical animal testing is obvious, as scientists Russell and Burch wrote that “the success of such an approach to the reform of modern animal experimentation is that… it presents an essentially pro-science ideal which challenges researchers to develop affordable and ethically superior experimental method” (Monamy 2000, pp.73-92).
In Canada, standards for the ethical use and care of animals, which cover guidelines, policy statements and other CCAC-recognized standards, are regulated and developed to apply across Canada. The CCAC ensures that animals are used under ethical and proper conditions. To promote the Three “Rs” internationally, the CCAC hosted the Eighth World Congress on Alternatives and Animal Use in the Life Sciences (WC8) in August 2011 and the CCAC Fellowship program is an important part of CCAC’s work in understanding and addressing ethical issues relating to the use of animals in science (2014, pp.6-7).
In conclusion, this guide introduces the overview of animal experimentation and represents specified details of animal use in Canada. If animals couldn’t be avoided from experimentation, more attention on ethical animal testing should be required and mandatory. Conclusively, in the 21th Century, scientists should pursue more new forms of ethical animal testing or seeking more effective alternatives instead of animal testing in the future, and it should never been stop, as what professor Goodall said,
“We need a new mindset for the 21st century. Most experimenters, while acknowledging that animals are sentient and sometimes sapient beings, say that some will always have to be used but they will use as few and treat them as well as possible. Instead, let us admit that the practice is morally and ethically unacceptable. We need to move on” (2007).
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