A More Responsible Approach to Animal Research, Testing, and Experiment

It’s Time for a More Responsible Approach to Animal Research, Testing, and Experimentation The debate about using animals for medical testing has been raging for years. The struggle always seems to be between extremist animal rights activists who believe that animals should never be used for research, and scientists who believe that any use of animals is acceptable. There are a growing number who argue that there must be a reasonable middle ground. I contend that there must be a significant decrease in the number of animals used by humans to further human goals. I will give a historical account of animal use, provide some statistics about animal use, present some arguments against the use of animals and present Singer's view as well as my own. To conclude I will present a new idea that has become important to the animal protection movement, paving the way for more moderate discussion concerning animal welfare. Animals were used for the study of the life sciences in ancient Greece. To learn about body functions scientists would cut into a live animal to observe the processes that were occurring. Animals have been used for centuries to help researchers understand the various organs of the body and their functions as well as to hone their surgical skills (jhsph). In the 19th century there was a rise in biomedical research and a subsequent rise in the number of animals used in experiments. Then came the birth of the animal rights movement in a large scale. Bentham's question of whether or not animals can suffer became the rallying cry of the animal protection movement at the time. The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Great Britain and in the United States was created in the 19th century... ...you can have longer, fuller looking lashes. Then consider the alternatives. Lists of companies that use animals for testing are published on the web. Ask questions about what is happening in the basement of this very building. I'm not advocating the complete abolishment of testing but rather, a responsible outlook on the types of testing done and the alternatives. WORKS CITED * "Alternatives to Animal Testing on the Web." http://altweb.jhsph.edu/  Ã‚  Ã‚   * Burne, Jerome. "Animal Testing is a disaster." The Guardian. 24 May 2001. http://www.guardian.co.uk/ * "Questions and Answers about the Animal Welfare Act and its Regulations for Biomedical Research Institutions." USDA. http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/legislat/regsqa.htm * "Research Animal Use - Types Numbers and Percentages." The Humane Society of the United States. http://www.hsus.org/