Animal Testing Should Be Banned Argumentative Essay

Animal testing will get us no where. This is an important topic to give voice about because testing on animals has portrays countless pros and cons. I personally believe that testing on animals should be banned for several reasons. Animals are suffering and dying from experiments each day. Most animals that are being tested on are not protected by the laws. Harsh living conditions are present for the animal test subjects. Most people have a lack of empathy toward those animals. To put it in perspective, would you like scientists to torture your pets? All living things should be treated equally and have the rights to live, with no exceptions. The selfish act of humans has caused a myriad of problems towards the population of animals. Nevertheless, some may say that testing on animals should not be banned, I believe that this act should be banned as all living things have the right to live.

To start off, animal testing is inhuman and should be banned because of all the suffering, mistreatment, and deaths. Most companies claim that no animals were hurt during testing , this is simply wrong and untruthful:

Most companies claim that no animals were hurt during animal experimentation, but there nonetheless exists a shadow of doubt. Testing potentially includes the jabbing of needles, storage into cramped spaces, and lack of quality/quantity in nutrition. Some animals may die over the course of the experiment or be killed after their use, and others may lose their limbs, eyesight, hearing, muscle coordination, and so on. In some cases, many of the substances tested may never even see approval of public consumption and use; thus, these animals may have undergone such treatment in vain, seeing that no direct benefit to humans occurred.(“The Debate on Animal Experimentation”).

This fact stated that animal testing are not possible without hurting the subjects. All of the animals suffered in some way. What would you do if you were in the animal's place? The last thing you want to happen is to get hurt, and that is exactly what the animals feel. Animal test subjects have feelings like us too, they feel pain and fear. Only a mere 5% of animals used in experiments are protected by the law. All animals should be protected by laws just like how all humans are protected by laws. 25 million animals get mistreated and killed mercilessly in experiments are way too high. Animals cannot give consent, they are no volunteers. It is undoubtedly not okay to test on animals as they cannot give consent. Humans can,on the other hand, people volunteer to be tested on and that is a choice.

Moreover, It is wrong to test on animals because success in animal experimentation does not equate to human safety. Even though animals are the closest thing on earth to humans genetically. The results from the experiments do not work one-hundred percent accurate on humans:

When the sleeping pill thalidomide was tested on pregnant rats, mice, cats and guinea pigs, there were no incidence of birth defects, except when administered at extremely high doses. However, when it was used by pregnant women, it resulted in severe deformities affecting 10,000 babies.(“16 Integral Pros and Cons of Animal Experimentation”).

This is a proven fact, results are often not accurate since the test subjects are not humans. This also proves that animal lives are wasted from pointless experiments. As stated from the same article “A majority of the drugs that passed animal tests, 94% to be exact, failed in human clinical trials.(“16 Integral Pros and Cons of Animal Experimentation”).

The statistics from the experiments are proved and failed miserably. The drugs that are safe for humans are often not safe for animals. Not only innocent animals are dying from the experiments, valuable resources are also being consumed. Resources like medicine and food are consumed carelessly. 

As many people start to realise how animals are getting treated, boycotting of items that are a result of animal testing is increasingly popular as more people start to realise how the animals are getting treated. The topic is getting more attention and more actions are done for the rights of innocent animals:  

More than one-third of women only buy cosmetics from brands that do not use animal testing. The market for cruelty-free cosmetics (products not tested on animals) is estimated to reach $10 billion by 2024. At least 37 countries have banned or restricted the sale of cosmetics with ingredients tested on animals, including nations in the European Union. In the US, California became the first state to make it illegal to sell most cosmetics that underwent animal testing. (“Should Animals Be used For Scientific or Commercial Testing?”).

Actions are happening to protect the lives of animals. More and more people will notice this topic and eventually stop this cruel act. Instead, we can create accurate models made from skin cells to conduct research. This way, the cruelty of animal testing will sure to decrease. In this world we live, we have to learn to solve problems using our own power.

Alternatively, some people disproves the banning of animal testing since they are a big factor to contribute to many cures and treatments:

The majority of the medical breakthroughs that have happened in the last 100 years were direct results from animal research and experimentation, according to the California Biomedical Research Association. Insulin, for example, was discovered through an experiment where dogs have their pancreas removed.(“16 Integral Pros and Cons of Animal Experimentation”)

This fact undeniably true, but it does not make an excuse to test on the poor animals. We should not be toying with animal lives.  Millions of animals died for the sake of human lives. Many of the humans are not thankful for this fact, the results are not achievable without the use of animal testing. Animals are dying because of humans, the selfish acts are wrong and inhumane. Animals scream in pain, getting dissected, and dying are caused by humans. It is selfish to think the fact that it is okay to torture animals just for our own benefits. 

To summarize all the points, animal testing should be banned for a number of reasons. The cruelty of experimenting on animals will get us nowhere. I believe that this act should be banned as all living things have the right to live freely. Animals cannot give any consent and we should not take any advantage of them. More people need to understand the effect of testing on animals and ultimately stop this horrible procedure.