Ciara Kreissler
Public Speaking Comm 1000
Ryan Morehead December 11, 2014
Abstract Animal research and testing is used by many large corporations, businesses, and scientists to determine whether or not a product is suitable to go onto the shelves of our stores. People sometimes fail to realize that many animals are harmed or even killed because of unsafe testing methods. Let us not forget that animals are living, breathing, creatures, and people would not want to harm or kill them for something as simple as testing for human beauty products? Animal testing can be beneficial to our society as long as it is for a cure or a good cause. Therefore, as long as the animals are well taken care of, not directly harmed, and are used to test for the common well-being of the people then this sort of testing can be a beneficial thing.
History Testing on animals has been going on for many years and still continues today. It is estimated that more than fourteen million rats and mice are used in research each year. Rats and mice are not the only animals used for testing, about 1.4 million other kinds of mammals are used in research every year as well. Experiments can go bad; this can be painful, or even deadly to these innocent animals. The treatments of these animals in the labs are not awful, but very sad. Small animals are kept in plastic boxes and large animals in wire cages. Laws have been passed to make sure animals receive clean, warm cages, large enough to move around. Unfortunately, laws have not been passed to mandate, during experiments, that animals are given medication that ensures they feel no pain or discomfort. Although many companies do give medicine, not all require this. Scientist must to get their research approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, however.
Shocking Facts about Animal Experimentation When we think of animal testing, most people think of little white mice as the only animals that get experimented on, to see whether or not products are safe for human use. While this remains true, there are many other animals that are used to test products, many of which we share our everyday lives with, such as dogs, cats, rabbits, etc. “More than 100 million animals are poisoned, burned, crippled, and abused in other ways in U.S. labs each year. No experiment is illegal, no matter how cruel, irrelevant to human health, redundant, or painful. Ninety five percent of animals used for experiments are excluded from the only federal law offering any sort of protection. Even when valid alternatives to animals are available, the law doesn’t require that they be used. Ninety two percent of experimental drugs that are safe and effective in animal tests, fail in human clinical trials because they don’t work or are dangerous" (as cited in Peta, 2014, para. 1).
Harm and Suffering Each testing team has a selected committee chosen by that facility to oversee the treatment of animals and also what is done to the animals within the laboratory. This is seen as unfair because the employees of the facility would most likely say things that are harmful or unsafe for the animals are safe because their job is on the line, unlike a group of individuals whose jobs are not at risk. Keep in mind, no matter how hard each facility tries to make their laboratories comfortable and clean this is an unnatural way of living for these poor creatures. Animals that constantly live in cages are more likely to become stressed, sick, or even die. Could most people imagine living their entire life as a hospital patient, prisoner, or totally confined to a cage?
What Do Most Tests Consist Of? Animals that are subject to research and testing experiments receive everything from new drugs to toxicity tests, social isolation, electric shock, withholding of food and water, breeding, or even separating babies from mothers. Many side effects are caused from
