Medical Animal Testing should be Banned

Medical animal testing should be banned for there being other humane testing methods that exist. Because there are other alternatives that would replace or relieve animal testing, the use of animals would decrease dramatically. An example of a company who believes in an alternative to animal testing is Procter & Gamble Co. or P&G. Every year they spend $4.5 million on research that advances alternatives to animal testing. Though these alternatives may not replace all animal testing; but, it would minimize it greatly, it would also show how these lack in testing so we can develop new technology that fills in the holes.

These alternatives are great options that can reduce the number of animals needed or leaves them out of the question, they also won’t cause stress on human life because these are now solutions to the problem and don’t require mass amounts of research.

Contention 2: Since animals are not good models for human medicine because they differ greatly; metabolically, anatomically, and genetically. Medical animal testing should be banned. The results that came from testing thalidomide (after the incident) on pregnant

animals only resulted in defects on rabbits where the doses were 25 to 300 times that given to humans and when given to monkeys the dose was ten times the dose given to humans. Furthermore, while testing animals, the environment around them can taint the results. Stressed rats, for example, develop chronic inflammatory conditions and intestinal leakage, which add variables that can mix up the data. According to Aysha Akhtar, another example can be found in spinal cord injuries, drug testing results vary according to species and even which strain

within a species is being used, because of numerous interspecies and interstrain differences in

neurophysiology, anatomy, and behavior. From the evidence provided, it shows that humans and animals have different anatomy, metabolic rates and how genetics play a role. This proves that animals are not good candidates to model for human medicine.

Contention 3: Drugs that pass animal testing have a chance to react harmfully towards humans which is another reason medical animal testing should be banned; this might be due to a multitude of things such as testing on the wrong animal or inadequate testing. According to the, US Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA), nine out of ten drugs are proven successful in animal tests but fail in human trials. An example of this can be found in the results that came from the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), Flenac (Fenclofenac), despite passing animal tests in 10 different animals, the drug produced severe liver toxicity in humans. Another example in the NSAID Oraflex/Opren (Benoxaprofen), the drug was tested in monkeys and rats and gave no indication of risk. After the NSAID was released onto the market, humans began experiencing severe liver toxicity and phototoxicity; there were more than 3,500 serious harmful event and more than 50 deaths occurred. From the provided evidence, it shows that even though drugs are tested on animals and pass that phase, they still fail in humans.

In conclusion, medical animal testing should be banned; since there are new technologies that we can use in place of animals, animals and humans are also very different from each other and don’t act as good models for human medicine. For these reasons, I can only affirm today’s resolution. Thank you.

Animal testing should not be banned for there have been numerous medical advances made as a result of using animals; which has saved the live’s of countless family members, sparing the family itself. According to the CBRA, researches have placed cells from human cancer tumors into immunologically deficient mice without rejection. This allows the study of human cancer without risking human lives; from this, it has shown that immune systems can be stimulated by genetically altered tumors, leading to hopes that gene therapy can be used to fight cancer. Another example of how animal testing advanced medicine is how studies in guinea pigs and primates have led to the development of leukotriene-receptor antagonists. This was approved in the 1990s as the first new type of asthma treatment in 20 years that was effective against mild and severe forms of asthma, according to CBRA. Furthermore, In the mid-1900s the first human transplant of a kidney was performed and was effective. The surgery had been previously perfected in dogs (CBRA). On the contrary, most of the fails that do not advance medicine are mostly pharmaceuticals and have to do with metabolic rates, unlike the provided examples. Finally, the evidence provided translates into real life, it shows how animal testing can be good for us shows us how it saves lives.

Overall, medical testing on animals should not be banned. Humans and animals are more related than most might think and alternatives can’t be compared to that of an entire living system that animals provide. For these reasons, I can only negate today’s resolution. Thank you.

Did you like this example?

1772

74