Animal Experimentation All the Way!
Animal Experimentation All the Way!
An Animal Experimentation uses living animals to find out answers to scientific questions. People in medical research use animals for two main reasons: to make sure that medicines are as safe and effective as possible before doctors give them to people and to find out more about how the body works. Without animal experimentation, many of the most important advances in modern medicine would never have occurred. But for researchers’ painstaking work with animal subjects, deadly viruses like rabies and yellow fever could have become modern versions of the Black Death, and our knowledge about human health and physiology would have been drastically limited. Yet the overwhelming benefits of animal experimentation have failed to persuade one group of extremists. Animal rights activists, motivated by abstract concerns about animal welfare and well-being, have zealously asserted that the use of animals in medical research is morally evil and should be severely curtailed, or even eliminated altogether. Due to the proponents on both sides bringing strong emotions into the issue of animal experimentation, there have been fires and break-ins as well as the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on new alarms and electric locks. However, despite what opponents’ incorrectly claim, studies prove that animal experimentation is the best way to insure the well being of humans, since medical studies can be advanced in accurate manner.
Opponents of animal experimentation are correct in saying that the psychological testing is inhumane, but are incorrect when preaching about the other methods of research that are available. It is true that the past psychological experiments on animals were unnecessarily cruel, since there was no immediate benefit for humans. Such as the experiment in which scientists designed mechanical surrogate mothers who would eject sharp spikes as the youngsters hugged them, in order “to gauge the effects of child abuse on young monkey”(qtd in Cowley 53-54). However, these types of experiments no longer occur for the most part, because of the recent law passed, governing animal care in laboratories. Nowadays, facilities housing dogs must let them exercise and those housing primates must provide for their psychological well-being. To ensure that this is being done all laboratories are required to set up animal-care committees and submit to annual inspections. Opponents to animal experimentation mistakenly believe that substitute methods such as cell culture and...