Would you take an animal’s life to save many humans lives? Animal Experimentation is a controversial topic with many arguments for both sides. It’s controversial because scientists and doctors are trying to keep humans alive longer and keep them healthy while also keeping the animals safe and healthy. It has helped many people and created many vaccines and treatments. If the animals are being treated fairly I believe it is necessary. But not everybody agree with animal experimentation.
People who are against animal testing are against it because of the way the animals are treated. Smaller animals such as mice, rats, and hamsters are placed in small boxes about the size of a shoebox. Animals a bit larger such as guinea pigs are held in boxes about twice the size of a shoebox. Large animals like cats and dogs are held in wired cages and stay in there at all times except when being experimented on. Being in cages can be bad for smarter animals such as pigs, monkeys, dogs, and cats because they get bored and have no way of exercise.
Even though these animals are being put in cages and boxes the things we get in return in the medical field are far greater in value. There have been many medications and treatments that we wouldn’t have if it hadn’t been for animal testing such as cancer treatments and HIV drugs. By the use of animal testing human lives aren’t only being saved but animal lives are also being saved because we can create medications for them.
Another thing is people who are against animal testing think that the animals are getting hurt. If the experiment will cause main to the animal in most cases the pain is the same as getting an injection. If the pain will be worse and the scientists and doctors feel they need to they will use anesthetics to ease the pain or take the pain away from the animal. With the use of anesthetics we are able to see the side effects of the animals before we test it on humans. Animals are also close enough to humans for humans to test on them to see if the drug or medication is safe before moving on to human testing and human trials. It is also the most accurate way to tell if the drug is safe.
People value the human life so much greater than the life of an animal. With this method scientist and doctors are able to see the side effects before moving on to humans. If there was no animal experimentation and humans went straight to human testing there would be many deaths because you wouldn’t know the side effects before giving the human the drug. Many believers believe that animals should have the same right to life as humans do but there is no other way for doctors and scientists to test these things.
There is many animals used in testing but that only makes the evidence even more clear if we should go on to human studies. Most of the animals are rodents, in the year 2000 there was over two million rodents used in just the United Kingdom. With a total of two million seven hundred fourteen thousand eight hundred used that year. There is no other species in the world that has the numbers animals do and we can’t go straight to human testing. That is one problem with animal testing, is all the animals that are used in the process even thought it does make the results very clear on weather it works or not.
There are many opinions on this topic but no matter what anyone says animal testing will always be used. It is unfortunate for the animals but as humans to keep our species alive and healthy we have to keep testing. There will be many arguments over this topic in the future but until we find a more efficient way this is the only way to go.






Work Cited


"The Pro’s And cons." Animal Testing Should Always Be Allowed! Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://levmm1.wordpress.com/2010/12/11/the-pros-and-cons/>.
"Animal Testing." : Facts and Figures. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.animalport.com/animal-testing/animal-testing-facts-figures.html>.
"11 Facts about Animal Testing." DoSomething.org. Web. 22 Feb. 2012. <http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-animal-testing>.
Cothran, Helen. Animal Experimentation: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven, 2002. Print.