Argument For Animals

7 Pages 1709 Words

Argument for Animals

Human rights vs animal rights, cruelty, abuse, scientific advances and vivisection are all

words related to the use of animals for scientific research. Each year, 17 to 22 million animals

are used in scientific or medical experiments to test new drugs and study disease to insure the

safety of products for human use. As early as 500 B.C., animals have been victims of testing and

experimentation known as vivisection, to further human medical research. Vivisection, a word

that originally meant cutting or performing surgery on a live animal, is a practice that uses live

animals for tests in order to protect the public from dangerous chemicals. Sir George Duckett of

the Society for the Abolition of Vivisection, 1875, has said about the use of vivisection,

"Vivisection is monstrous. Medical science has little to learn and nothing can be gained by

repetition of experiments on living animals" (Day 35). This quote shows that even back in the

late 1800's, cruelty to animals during research was a concern.

Scientists believe that millions of humans would suffer or die without animal

experimentation. Doctors maintain that they could not introduce new medicines and vaccines to

test safety without animal testing. Even though tremendous breakthroughs have been made in

science due to animal research, it is still a highly debated, moral issue among animal activists.

concern over the welfare of animals utilized in laboratory practice has led to laws and regulations

governing the use of animals to ensure humane treatment. According to organizations such as

PETA, (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), animals possess the right not to be treated

inhumanely or tortured to benefit mankind. Animal experimentation should be used to advance

science only when the animal is not phsically harmed of made to suffer needlessly.


The ...