Animal testing: a cry for help
November 30, 2010
Animal testing is far more serious than merely spraying perfume in a dog’s fur. In fact, the severity is depressing enough to make any human being cry.
Different torturous forms of animal testing include acute toxicity tests in which high doses of a substance are given to animals by force-feeding and inhalation, and /or absorption through skin. They experience diarrhea, seizures, paralysis and other horrific side effects until they ultimately die. Additionally, eye and skin irritation/corrosion tests are a procedure where rabbits are put in full body restraints as a chemical is dripped or smeared into their eyes or onto bare skin for days causing ulcers, bleeding, and blindness as according PETA’s website.
Animals are tested on for research on the effects of pharmaceutical, cosmetic, or household cleaning products. This cruel practice is unnecessary because it does not even prove to be very beneficial or accurate. Animal tests and human results are agreeable only 5 to 25 percent of the time according to a scientific executive at Huntingdon Life Sciences. A study suggests that fewer than 2 percent of human illnesses are ever found in animals. Even still, researchers infect animals with strains of cancer.
There are alternatives to animal testing. For instance, pieces of tissue have been grown in test tubes from donated human cells portrays an article on the New York Times website. This can be tested on in place of animals. The article adds that other companies use computer simulation programs for virtual testing.
Yet, about 100 million vertebrate and invertebrate animals are used for research in the U.S. every year according to Stephanie Ernst on her animal rights blog at change.org. Animals have feelings too and the pain they endure for human research is unbearable to imagine. Animal abuse is illegal, but testing animals is abusing them, so why is it allowed?
Buying products tested on animals just contributes to helping these beautiful creatures suffer. There are viewable online lists of companies that do not test finished products, ingredients, or formulations on animals such as the Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide on leapingbunny.org. Websites like these should be supported and funded by consumers so that we can end animal testing before it gets too out of hand.
Angela • Apr 16, 2012 at 5:22 pm
I just wanted to clarify something about this article-I know it’s been a while since I wrote it-but I didn’t write the last sentence. I’m not saying in the article that you should pay money to support websites-I’m not saying you shouldn’t either. But, my main message was to stop buying from companies that test on animals because purchasing their products is helping to support animal experimentation. The reason I mentioned leapingbunny.org is because that was one of the websites that had a list of companies who signed a contract agreeing not to test on animals.
James Parker • Dec 5, 2010 at 6:34 am
At the risk of tooting our own horn, we suggest that answers to questions raised in this editorial are not hard to get. They are available in The Animal Research War, (P. Michael Conn and James V. Parker, authors), a small book that distinguishes (as this editorial doesn’t) animal research from animal testing and animal drug testing from commerical product testing. The book lays out the evidence that biomedical research involving animals is very seldom painful, vigorously regulated, and absolutely necessary to the development of every medication, treatment and item of a doctor’s advice that you and I depend on for our health. The book would be a good resource for high school science and debate classes and for anyone preparing a research project or term paper on the controversy surrounding the role of animals in our society.