Animal Testing: An Everlasting Battle

6 Pages 1381 Words

There are 40,000 lives hanging in the balance waiting on the National Organ Transplant list every single year. Compared to that large number there are only 5,000 donors per year. One-fifth of the 40,000 souls will die before they ever have the chance at a transplant (Gorman 62). Although the amount of donors is not nearly what our society would like it to be, it’s better than ever before. Thanks to scientific studies and tests using animals, the intricate process of conducting a transplant operation is possible. Years of studying and testing animals has also led to many other improvements in the medical field such as: vaccines for diseases and increased longevity in humans and animals due to common medicines. Even after all of these wonderful things have come and will continue to come from animal research, activists protest the use of other living beings in the lab. The only ammunition the activists have are rare occurrences of abuse. Although animal abuse is wrong and unfortunate, it is a minute fraction in the grand scheme of science. I believe in the use of animals in medical studies because it has a far more positive effect on the entire world and all the creatures in it.
Many activists believe that labs (at least in this country) do not provide any comfort for animals (Caras 57). This however is not accurate. Nearly all scientists would say that regulations on lab cleanliness and animal care techniques are very harsh (Cowley, et al. 57). The feud between these two groups of people continues to brew. Some say that the fighting between them has become so loud and one sighted that nobody can be heard anymore (Caras 57). Activists have also resorted to violence in their push
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towards ridding the world of animal testing. Not only have threats been made against specific scientists but they have been made regarding the scientists family members also (US 7). One example of violence is where a woman was arrested ...