Argumentative Essay

We love our animals. We feed the birds, as children we are told that 'a dog is a man’s best friend,' we fund zoos, we have animal sanctuaries, petting zoos, and we build those lifelong connections with our pets. How would you feel if you saw these animals chained up, immobilized, screaming in pain from chemicals being forced into their bodies? What about if you watched them be killed and their organs extracted to be tested on? Now that there is a connection between us and the animal being tortured, it is different. We have that longing to reach out to them and help them, to cure their heartache and endless suffering.

Many people graze over the topic of animal testing. I did for the longest time, because I was never told what was going on. I had no idea of what was really happening. I had no idea what animal testing meant and that millions of animals were being hurt each day. In fact, in the United States alone, 26 million animals are tested on each year. That's 26 million primates, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, dogs, rats, mice, birds and others that go through endless suffering to bring us things as small as water proof mascara.

By definition, animal testing refers to the experimentation carried out on animals. It is more than that; animals are used to develop medical treatments, determine the toxicity in medication, and check safety of products for human use. This practice has been around since 500BC. So it seems like a normal scientific routine to further advance society.

Proponents say that animal testing is a necessity and that it has helped society with life- saving treatments. Looking back at medical history animal testing has played an important role in many advancements including the discovery of insulin that came from looking at removed dog pancreas. However, there are underlying issues that are questioned: how many dogs’ lives were taken, and could there have been an alternative to the discovery of insulin?

Here is the truth. 94% of drugs that pass animal tests fail human trials. Aysha Akhtar, MD, a neurologist, said that, “Over 100 stroke drugs that were effective when tested on animals have failed in humans, and over 85 HIV vaccines failed in humans after working well in non-human primates.” A 2013 study in Archives of Toxicology stated that, “The low predictability of animal experiments in research areas of comparing mice to humans puts strong doubt on the usefulness of animal data as key technology.” They argue against animal testing by indicating that the studies that are being conducted are not as reliable as some would believe, making animal testing an outdated way to gather information for the safety of any product on any human. Plus, with new technology and scientists finding newer ways to do things faster, there must be other ways to replicate the tests without the animal abuse. There are very few similarities between humans and animals.

People argue saying that mice share 98% of their DNA with humans, and chimpanzees have a 99% similarity. Scientific studies easily prove this. Humans have such complex systems that our anatomic, metabolic, skin structure and cellular differences between animals and our systems is much more than a little. With that in mind, the way that an animal’s body would react to chemicals being forced into their bodies, would be different due to the way our bodily systems would break down the chemicals coursing through our veins. Making it difficult to compare what happened to the animal to any human.


There are multiple studies being brought forth to break away from tradition and into the twenty first century of technology. New advances in technology actually allow testing chemicals, toxicity, and other things on more accurate devices. By taking samples of skin cells and observing them under a microscope. This can produce more reliable results than testing on animals because real human cells were used. Recreation of artificial human skin that is made from real human cells would have a more accurate depiction of any rash, swelling or irritation on a more accurate scale. Microfluidic chips or “organs on a chip”, human volunteers taking small dosages, and computer programs that will tell you the toxicity of a substance or programs that can recreate a human body system in seconds on screen. All are examples of new ways that would not only bring around more accurate data but also minimize and may even eliminate animal cruelty in labs.

One of the biggest things people argue about on the subject of animal testing is the mistreatment, or lack of it, within the labs themselves. As much as the proponents believe that there is no mistreatment due to the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), one must look at the facts. Animal testing in the United States is regulated under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA). The AWA, however, does not protect 95% of animals used in experiments, because they define “animal” as “any live or dead dog, cat, monkey, guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or such other warm blooded animal,” meaning that they exclude birds, rats and mice, cold-blooded animals, and farm animals from protection. That says a lot about what kind of animals that labs are using to undergo some of the horrid experiments.

The AWA protects the mistreatment of animals in labs, but it does not protect them from what goes on within the actual experiments. The two most common tests that are conducted are the Draize Eye test and the Acute Toxicity tests. The Draize Eye test involves rabbits being restrained and chemicals being injected, or placed directly on the eye and left for up to 14 days minimum, causing blindness, redness, bleeding, and ulcers. The rabbits are then observed after the allotted time and killed. During the Acute Toxicity test large amounts of animals are given high amounts of Lethal Dose 50 and the effects are observed. Lethal Dose 50 is the amount of a chemical which causes death of 50% of test animals; it is used to measure short term poisoning potential. The experiment doesn’t end until at least half of the animals are dead. That is only two of the tests that are taken.

According to Humane Society International, “Animals used in experiments are commonly subjected to force feeding, forced inhalation, food and water deprivation, prolonged periods of physical restraint, the infliction of burns and other wounds to study the healing process, the infliction of pain to study its effects and remedies, and ‘killing by carbon dioxide asphyxiation, neck-breaking, decapitation, or other means.’” And yet these animals are supposed to be protected under the Animal Welfare Act, and still they are forced to endure long hours of suffering and pain, never to be loved or safe. The idea that millions of animals go through this every year, is almost sickening in the sense that they are meant to be protected and loved.

Animals in all testing environments are being mistreated to the point where death is what saves them. Their fate is to be locked up in metal cages, waiting until the next time they are ripped from their cage and forced into yet another terrifying and painful situation. They have no voice to tell us they need help. They have no way to tell us that they are in pain. They are only victims to sciences torture. Although animal testing has been around for hundreds of years, it is actually true that the modern world has updated ways that will minimize animal cruelty in labs, because no animal should have to live its whole life in fear and pain. We certainly do not, and they should not have to suffer for mans benefit.