Animal Research Pros and Cons

Of late, the debate on animal research has been a highly sensitive topic in the media. While animal testing by scientists has been fraught with controversy still, it's a fact that animals are captured for experiments. This often rages heated debates between animal lovers and those who support such experiments. Discover both sides of the coin in this write up.

Pros and Cons of Animal Research

Rats share certain similarities with human biology. Their hard luck, it seems. This has made them one of the most used animals in experiments and laboratory testing. Consequently, numerous tests on animals have led to path breaking discoveries in medical science. On the contrary, animal research ethics, the integrity and morality of such tests have been questioned by environmentalists.

Pros
PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) supporters will stand in unison against the support of animal testing. However, when we view various animal testing pros, we realize that there are several positive aspects of animal testing viz.

• Various dangerous diseases like herpes simplex, hepatitis B, polio, rabies, malaria and mumps have been treated owing to medications developed from tests on animals.
• Results through medical research on animals has led to improvement in medical procedures like blood measurement, lung diseases diagnosis, heart diseases diagnosis and various pacemaker technologies.
• One of the most important techniques in medical surgery, anesthesia has been developed after it has been tested on animals.
• Animal research has been also able to benefit cats and dogs in certain ailments. Moreover, nutrition of cats and dogs has been improved after repeated animal tests.

Cons
Animal testing statistics are alarming. To discover new medicines and vaccinations, millions of animals are killed every year all across the globe. Animal rights are lost in oblivion when it comes to animal testing ethics. In this part, we focus on demerits of animal testing.

• Animals go through severe pain during the tests. Most testers claim they use anesthesia to conduct the tests. However, can pricking needles and using chemicals on animals be painless? Who knows if they use anesthesia safely? Just because animals can't speak, are they subject to such treatments?
• Months of torture leads to loss of eyesight loss, organ failure and many more dangerous consequences on animal health. Just to see the effects of chemicals, animals are imprisoned and observed over certain period of time. Meanwhile, they go through hell and eventually death. Majority of animals are killed in the process.
• Animal testing in cosmetic industry is another issue that has raised serious concerns over animal safety. Why to kill animals for enhancing beauty, that is often harmful for skin. Why not adopt natural means for beauty?
• Animals have been forced to mutate and produce cross springs. Embryos of different animals are injected in a different animal body.
• Animal cloning is another phenomena that has been tried several times. Why to reduce the dignity of animal lives? Mostly, hybrid animals and cloned ones are either diseased, malformed and even dead.
• Animal cruelty has risen to peaks after stem cell and tissue culture has become popular. Scientists are suggesting to find cure for cancer by trying all experiments on animals. How ethical is it?
• A study suggests that less than 2% of illnesses that affects humans are ever found in animals. Even rodents (rats) that are mostly used in cancer research; rarely suffer from human form of cancer (lung cancer etc). Why are they still used in such researches?

This topic will always be debated among scholars, animal lovers and scientists. Humanity has always been caught in dualities. While there is a positive side to one aspect, the negative side also exists. Animal research through animal experimentation has been an integral part of medical research. I don't agree with this inhumane system. What about you? Share your thoughts down in the comments column and tell millions of readers, what you feel. But always remember, we all agree to disagree.