Animal Experimentation

7 Pages 1668 Words

Animal Experimentation / Rights

“They don’t feel pain the same as you or I”. The issue of whether animals have sense perception (are sentient) is important for those who use animals in research. As long as they continue to think and feel as though the animals do not feel pain the same as you or I, they can go to bed at night with a clear conscience.
“It may be cruel, but it can help us understand the human condition,” runs the argument for animal testing. “Absolute rubbish”, (Fano)
Vivisection, (the act of cutting into or dissecting a living body) has been practiced since the beginning of scientific medicine. In the second half of the nineteenth century, experimentation on living animals became a quintessential part of physiology as an institutionalized profession (LaFollette). According to estimation by the American Medical Association, biomedical researchers use between 17-22 million animals each year (LaFollette). A sufficiently large enough number of animals are used in biomedical research to warrant a scientific and more evaluation of the practice (LaFollette).
Even when disagreeing about the moral appropriateness, parties on both sides of the debate assert the scientific validity of animal research (LaFollette). Some of the opponents of animal experimentation argue that some or all types of animal research are not scientifically valid. Many of those objections are inadequately developed and scientifically uninformed (LaFollette).
There are, however, legitimate scientific questions about the validity of animal experimentation which merit serious consideration by both sides. After careful assessment of scientific and methodological principles, the indication is that the claims concerning the enormous benefits of animal research are exaggerated (LaFollette). There is reason to question the appropriateness of extrapolating the results of animal experimentation to humans (LaFollette). There are no anima...