Animal Experiments

Some people think animal experimentation should be stopped because it is cruel. Others think it is necessary for the development of science. Discuss both view and give your own opinion. Animals were friend of humanity at different times of the human history. In modern times, experiments upon animals have long been a breeding ground for spirited debate. Some animal right activists argue that we should ban animal experiments altogether because putting animals through experimentation is unjustifiable on moral grounds. Yet some other people contend that the advancement of science necessitates animal testing.

Personally, I believe both their views have merit and demerit. Granted, empirical evidence suggests that many animal experiments are performed callously without any attention to the discomfort or pain that laboratory mammals endure. First and foremost, improper confinement of test animals such as locking them up in cramped cages is inhumane. It can gravely disrupt natural biological functions of the test animal. Further, the effects of vaccination and vivisection conducted on live mammals can be chilling. They may, in some case, even constitute sheer torture of live animals.

However, from a more pragmatic perspective, evidence bounds that animal subjects are still an indispensable part at this point. In the first place, it is manifest that drug experimentation on live mammals is far more effective than experimentation on bacteria or on other lower species in testing drug safety. In the second place, in space research, live animals are still the only practical alternative to humans in testing living creature reaction to outer-space experience on a flight not considered to be sufficiently safe for human astronauts.

Lastly, lab research about the behavioral tendencies of chimpanzees, gorillas and other members of the primate group is also necessary. It produces outcomes which consistently advance anthropological and genetic studies. To conclude, I concede that experiments upon animals may induce suffering to the test animals. However, I am convinced that there are no feasible alternatives to this methodology at the current stage of scientific development. On balance, I think that we should allow animals testing to be continued but at the same time we use techniques such as anesthetic to minimize the pain of the test animal.