Animal testing has proceeded worldwide for a long time. Nowadays, although the world has been changing so that some activities for animal experimentation cannot happen, still now most people think that animal testing for the medical field is important. It is false fundamentally because most human diseases are unique to us, and testing on other species is downright misleading. Animal experimentation is wrong and should be stopped.
Most people would say that if there is no way to find out a cure, they cannot help doing animal experimentations. Definitely, animal experimentation might have helped some disease which could not be cured, but animal experimentation is not as accurate and trusting as using computers or biochemical assays. There are some examples showing that animal testing is unethical and potentially harmful. Newstatesman, the UK current affairs magazine, argued why animal research is bad science; the following are instances. Despite having affirmed after seven years of animal research, the anti-rheumatic drug Opren killed 76 people in Britain and caused serious illness to 3,500 others. Likewise, after taking the diligent animal experimentation for the drug Eraldin, thousands of people with heart trouble suffered adversely. In the experiment, there was no one species that reacts to Eraldin in the same way as human do. These two medicines are only the tip of the ice burg, and examples can be found more often than one might think.
In addition to reliance on animal experimentation, people think that animals do not have rights or that animals do not have souls. In the speech given at the Edinburgh (Scotland) Book Festival, on August 19, 2002, Stuart Derbyshire said that “Animal never have any potential to do anything greater than their ancestors and direct contemporaries. Animals are not individual because while they may have distinct characteristics they lack the capacity to develop themselves and transform existence. In this sense, the value of animals is fixed such that it is always comparable to any other animal currently living, dead or projected into the future.” I personally think that it is human’s ego. Thinking or speaking is just few of human’s characteristics. Other animals also have special faculties. So, even though, human’s characteristics are great, human cannot dominate any animals. Today, what we most need in the world is a sincere love and sympathy. Therefore, people must agree that killing or injuring animals is not the best way for education. There are various ways to learn.
Scientists point out that drug therapies can have vastly different effects on different species. For instance, Strychnine kills people but not monkeys, and belladonna is deadly to humans yet harmless to rabbits. Then, what helps the development of the medical field except for animal testing? The answer is simple; there are lots of alternatives. Moreover these are more accurate and trusted than animal testing. For example, there are models and simulations, film and video, multimedia computer simulation, student self-experimentation, ethically-sourced animal cadavers, clinical practice, and in vitro labs. For medical and veterinary medical education, Digital Frog II, new interactive CD-ROM, includes living body module, anatomy module, and ecology module. This teaching material or any other model, simulator, video, and multimedia program can be used many times and these expense are efficient. According to Nick Jukes, a coordinator at InterNICHE which focuses on animal use and alternatives within biological science, new powerful software helps student and scientists understand structure and process efficiently; conventional animal experimentation seems to be poor. While these simulations can be limited to only anatomical studies, there are other sources to delve into for other processes. One such source is the clinical practice. The theory being the more experience the better the training if it is at the right level and the right time. ‘Problem-based learning’, related to real clinical cases, is recognized as a strong educational approach. Many veterinary colleges are already linked to veterinary clinics, providing an element of that field’s demands without experimentation on animals. This approach offers an education much closer in nature to the professional clinical practice that the student will either into after graduation. Not only the progress of technique but also the value of a life can be obtained through the clinical practice. Last example is in vitro labs. The use of animal tissue in some practicals can be replaced directly with plant material: for studying cell respiration or electron transport, mitochondria can be sourced either from yeast, potato or beet instead of the traditional rat liver, for example. Indeed, non-animal methods can be useful in the medical field.
Any kind of animals have various emotion as well as human do; therefore, the animal right is natural and respectable. Mahatma Gandhi said that “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way its animals are treated.” He was right. Animal rights have been getting important in the world. According to BBC news, on December 6, 2006, the Dutch raised animal rights to new levels, and then we can see Gandhi’s idea in action by observing the Dutch. Ms Thieme, a lawyer by training, was one of the founders of the Party for the Animals in November 2002. The party only narrowly missed winning a parliamentary seat in January 2003. Now it has made a breakthrough. Ms Thieme says “When I look at animals, they are innocent. We are treating them like they are things, like they are bicycles. That’s not what we have to be as human beings. We have common sense and moral awareness, so we have to use that as well.” Humans are also animals, so in spite of species differences, we have the same capacity for experience.
Some people may not possibly believe that animal research is bad, yet I do not need to get the information provided from cruel animal testing. Animals, including humans, are able to feel pain and fairness, enjoy their lives, eat their favorite foods, and be satisfied. Actually, non-animal methods are the best way to develop the medical field.
Websites
InterNICHE: www.interniche.org
AVA-net: http://www.ava-net.net/
NEWSTATESMAN: http://www.newstatesman.com/200408090013
Body Donation Programs: http://www.educationalmemorial.org/
PETA: http://www.peta.org/
Books
ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION
Animal Right
What Animals Want
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