Yessenia Peralta

 The Truth Behind Animal Testing

Why are Animals Tested on?

Each year more than 100 million animals are killed in laboratories because they are tested on.According to the Humane Society of the United States, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic law was signed in 1938. This law allowed companies to begin testing their products on animals. The reasons why are animals tested on is for biology lessons, medical training, chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing. Almost every medicine, or treatment you have ever used has been tested on innocent animals for your benefit.I know that most of us either own a pet or know of someone who loves their beloved pet. When we come back home we see the joy in their eyes and they comfort us. Imagine if one day your pet was taken away from you and put into a laboratory where they were going to be tested just so you could wear your favorite makeup product, shampoo, lotion, or fragrance.

What goes behind those laboratories when scientists are testing on animals?

Aysha Akhtar, M.D., M.P.H., a neurologist and preventive medicine specialist, from the Cambridge University Press stated on October 4th, 2015, “The high clinical failure rate in drug development across all disease categories is based, at least in part, on the inability to adequately model human diseases in animals and the poor predictability of animal models. A notable systematic review, published in 2007, compared animal experimentation results with clinical trial findings across interventions aimed at the treatment of head injury, respiratory distress syndrome, osteoporosis, stroke, and hemorrhage These animals animals are routinely force-fed, forced to inhale noxious compounds, deprived of food and water, physically restrained for prolonged periods, and burned; some of them reportedly even have their necks broken and are decapitated. In addition, 100,000 animals have suffered from pain because they weren’t under anesthesia .A common procedure that is often seen is when animals have their eyes clipped opened for hours even days just for a product could be tested on them.

Why isn't animal testing efficient and effective?

Natalie Regolim, M.D. in Law, from the ConnectUs Website mentioned on August 21,2015, “This statement is a direct contradiction from what proponents believe about how closely related animals and humans are anatomically and biologically, because of the many metabolic, cellular, and anatomical differences between the two species. Using rats for toxicity, for example, must not be accepted as reliable since humans are nowhere close to being 70-kilogram rats, according to Thomas Hartung, professor of evidence-based toxicology at Johns Hopkins University. This is further supported by the 2013 study in the Archives of Toxicology that states that the lack of direct comparison of human data versus that of a mouse makes the usefulness of research data dubious.” This here explains why most of these animals are dying because their poor research materials and their body doesn’t necessarily function the same as ours. Some scientists have believed that an animal's body functions the same as the human body but that isn’t necessarily true. Most of the time the products that are being tested on animals aren’t even effective to us, so it ends up being a waste of time.Animals And Humans bodies have similarities but don’t function the same which explains why when the animals are tested on end up dying majority of the time. The data that scientist are collecting from the animals ends up being a waste of time because it isn’t effective for a successful trial. Most of the products that are being tested on animals don’t end up being marketed, so the animals goes through all that suffering for no reason at all.

How can we do our part and help ban animal testing?

We can advocate and protest to stop animal testing because of how cruel it is. Another thing we need to do is to make sure the products we use are animal cruelty free because every chance they get to benefit off a product they will take it. Animals are our best friends and don't deserve to be treated less than a human being.

Work Cited :

Chief, Editor in. “16 Integral Pros and Cons of Animal Experimentation.” ConnectUS, 19 Aug. 2015, connectusfund.org/16-integral-pros-and-cons-of-animal-experimentation.

Akhtar, Aysha. “The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal Experimentation.” Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics : CQ : the International Journal of Healthcare Ethics Committees, Cambridge University Press, Oct. 2015, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4594046/