Animal Testing

Animal Testing

Animal testing should be outlawed because it is hurtful and not necessary. Do animals feel the same pain that we as humans feel? How do we know that other humans feel pain? We know that we ourselves can feel pain. We know this from direct experience of having your finger slammed in a drawer, or stubbing your toe on a chair. It is said that pain is a mental event; something that can not be observed. Pain is something that is felt, and we can only assume that other humans feel pain from external indications such as our own like crying, screaming, or jerking away from something. If we can justify that other humans feel pain, why is it said that animals do not feel pain? When an animal is poked, burned, or stepped on; they will cry, yelp, or jerk away. Since the external indicators are the same, we can assume that animals feel the same pain that we as humans feel. Animal protection advocates stress that the main disadvantage of animal testing is the inhumane treatment of animals in tests due to the fact that anesthesia for the help of pain is often not used. Scientists say that using anesthesia will interfere with test results. (All for Animals)

What types of tests are being performed on animals? Tests that are performed on animals range from them being forced to ingest different household cleaning products and then monitored to see the results and new cosmetics placed on their skin to find out if there are any side effects that would be harmful to a human. There are even some practices where animals are forced to ingest a medicine before it is put on the market to make sure that there are no life- threatening illnesses that will be caused to a human from taking the product. In order to test corrosive chemicals like Savage Acid and Goodbye Graffiti, rabbits backs are shaved and corrosive chemicals are applied onto their raw skin and left for up to two weeks. The chemicals burn the skin and the rabbits are given no pain relief. After the testing period the rabbits used are then killed. (Stop Animal Tests)

Today the term “vivisection” is used. Vivisection is defined as “cutting while still alive” but it is more commonly used today as any harmful experiment or test that is performed on an animal. Animal experimentation involves the incarceration of animals and poisoning, mutilation, disease and killing of those individuals. It is arguably the most brutal and most severe form of violence in the modern world.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires by law that pesticides be tested on dogs, who are shoved into "inhalation chambers" where they try in vain to escape the deadly poisons that are pumped in. The Food and Drug Administration requires companies marketing fluoride products to swab the teeth of 200 rats with the test substance for two weeks, at which time the animals are killed and their heads baked in an oven for an hour and your tax dollars are funding these types of experiments. Some businesses that test on animals include: Clorox, Clairol, Calvin Klein Cosmetics, Cover Girl, Dial Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, and Playtex Products Incorporated. It is said that an estimated 50,000 animals die due to the testing on them that Proctor and Gamble performs on them every year. “Secretly-filmed video evidence of P&G sponsored experiments at Huntingdon Life Sciences (a major multi-national contract animal testing company) shows the brutal treatment and killing of 48 monkeys.” One other business that performed testing on animals was IAMS. I know, you wouldn’t think that a company that made food for your pet to keep them healthy would test on animals much like your pets. Some of the tests that IAMS performed were:

• 28 female cats had their abdomens cut open and solution injected repeatedly into their bowels.

• 24 young dogs were given kidney failure by the removal of one kidney and the damaging of the other. All the dogs were killed after being fed an experimental diet and their kidneys analyzed.

• 18 young Great Danes were fed on differing diets and at eighteen months of age. Their bones from their front and back right legs were cut out and then stressed until they broke. Pigs were also used in similar experiments. (Uncaged