Essay for Animal Testing

              Should the practice of animal testing for drugs, chemicals, and diseases be legal? Scientists, legislators, and the general public have been debating the topic of animal testing for many years.  On one hand, many animal rights activists contend that using animals for research is unnecessary, cruel, and unethical and that different approaches should be taken in its place. On the other hand, some contend that using animals in scientific and medical research is essential and has led to numerous significant breakthroughs in human health.

                In 2015 Akhtar wrote “The flaws and human harms of animal experimentation”, presenting a compelling argument against animal experimentation, discussing the numerous flaws and ethical concerns associated with the practice. The author highlights how animal testing is often ineffective in predicting the effects of drugs on humans, and instead leads to false positives and negatives that can harm human health. Moreover, Akhtar contends that animal experimentation causes tremendous suffering to animals and violates their rights. This source is important to my research question as it provides a critical perspective on the use of animals in testing and highlights the need for alternative methods that can more effectively and ethically ensure human safety.

               In this article, Kaufman argues against the use of animals in cosmetic testing, highlighting how advances in technology have made it possible to develop alternative methods that do not require animal experimentation. The author notes how companies such as L’Oreal and Unilever have already taken steps to eliminate animal testing from their product development processes. This source is relevant to my research question as it provides insights into the current state of animal testing in the cosmetics industry and the potential for alternative methods.

               Pritt examines the attitudes of scientists toward animal experimentation in biomedical research, highlighting the complexities and ethical concerns associated with the practice. The author notes how scientists are often conflicted between their commitment to advancing medical knowledge and their concerns for animal welfare. The source is relevant to my research question as it provides insights into the perspectives of those involved in animal testing and highlights the need for continued debate and critical reflection on the issue.

                Members of the association believe that animal research has played a key role in many scientific and medical breakthroughs, including the development of vaccines for polio, rabies, and hepatitis B. Additionally, animal testing has been credited with helping to identify potential dangers and side effects of new drugs before they are tested on humans.

                 With the help of a specific expert on the subject, Professor Katarina A. Halliburton, a biology major graduating from Harvard University in 2020, spoke on her opinions on animal testing. She stated how the use of animals has paved the way for many advancements in humanity, she states that even this has been true, it is still undeniably unethical to perform such actions on animals. Fortunately, she has said how there is an decrease in the use as of lately, where she said “Over the past decade or so, there has been a consistent decrease in the utilization of animals for research purposes. Equally significant is the notable enhancement in the focus on ensuring the welfare of these animals and the appropriateness of the procedures employed in their care.” In the foreseeable future, she says she would continue to do whatever she must in order to make sure some of the things exposed to humans are completely safe, even if that includes the involvement of animals.

              Overall, these sources provide valuable insights into the use of animals for testing and highlight the need for alternative methods that can more effectively and ethically ensure human safety. The sources also demonstrate the ethical complexities and conflicting perspectives associated with animal experimentation and highlight the need for continued debate and critical reflection on the issue. There are compelling arguments on both sides of the debate about the use of animals in research. While animal testing has been crucial to many scientific and medical advances, there is growing demand for more efficient and less painful alternatives. The appropriate course of action will depend on how policymakers, scientists, and society as a whole assess the ethical and practical factors.

Reflection: When I thought about this research question, the first thing that came to mind was the question itself intriguing enough. Then I realized that the question, should animal testing be legal, was not specific enough. I then proceed to change the question into, should the practice of animal testing for drugs, chemicals, and diseases be legal and I find this question so much more fitting and comfortable. With my initial thoughts on the topic, I would have believed that the information on this topic would be simple to get but that assumption came out to be false. Sure, I was able to easily find information on why it shouldn’t be legal because of how it is unethical and how there are better ways but it was extremely difficult to find information on why it should be allowed. Every source that I read, whether it was unbiased or biased, had at least some sort of disagreement with the use of animal testing. This challenge was overcome when I utilized help like tutoring to help not only with the writing portion but with scouting information for my essay. There were a few sources that were too bluntly biased and also some sources with links that end in .gov like Wikipedia that obviously shouldn’t be trusted because of how easy information can be changed on it. Some problems I encountered when analyzing my test is seeing repetitive information spewed at me, many perspectives often share similar opinions and information. This was simple to solve as it helped determine which sources are useful to me and which aren’t. I was able to use course learning objective 2, enhance strategies for reading, drafting, revising, editing, and self-assessment and course learning objective 7, practice using various library resources, online databases, and the Internet to locate sources appropriate to your writing projects

Works Cited

Akhtar, A. (2015). The flaws and human harms of animal experimentation. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 24(4), 407-419. doi:10.1017/S0963180115000032 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4594046/

“American Association for Laboratory Animal Science.” AALAS, AALAS, 2012, https://www.aalas.org/

Kaufman, J. (2018). Why it’s time to stop animal testing for cosmetics. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkaufman/2018/02/20/why-its-time-to-stop-animal-testing-for-cosmetics/?sh=7b50641e4158 

Pritt, S. L. (2017). The use of animals in biomedical research: A survey of scientific attitudes. Lab Animal, 46(8), 313-318. doi:10.1038/laban.1311