“Dog, man’s best friend,” is a common statement and throughout history animals can be seen side by side with man. Growing up, we have all had experiences with animals. You probably begged your parents for the puppy in the window or for the hamster like your friend had. Recently animals are being used in the lab for testing in the scientific and commercial fields, and while it might be helpful, it is actually often cruel and inhumane because of the care provided for the animals, which is a representation of the lack of animal rights.

One cannot disregard the fact that animal testing is involved in major life-saving discoveries, like the polio vaccine and insulin (Nobel Media, World Health Organization); both of these are still vital in today’s society and still save many lives. These are undeniable and important discoveries.

But at what cost to the animals?
During these experiments animals are burned, cut, force fed, forced inhalation, dehydration, starvation, long periods of physical restrain, and according to the Humane Society, “killing by carbon dioxide asphyxiation, neck-breaking, decapitation, or other means.” These poor innocent animals are put under these horrible, inhumane, and cruel conditions to test the effects and to find solutions. The animals are also never given pain relief, forcing them to suffer until their imminent death. In 2010, the USDA estimated that 97,123 animals were excruciating pain with no anesthetic relief. These “experiments” are comparable to that of torture.

It is true that the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), which regulates care standards and routine veterinary inspections, regulates animal testing. Animals are taken care of by husbandry specialists because a stressed animal does not produce the desired results (Nature Genetics). The animals protected by this act are supposed to well cared for and treated as such.

However true this may be, it is also true that 95% of animals used in experiments are not protected by the AWA. That means that a majority of animals are subject to mistreatment (The Hastings Center). Moreover, most experiments are flawed, which wastes the lives of the animals, making these tests redundant. The scientists performing these tests fail to randomize the tests, which is used to prevent and reduce bias. The failure to randomize leads to the unnecessary sacrifice of the innocent and harmless creatures (Carol Kilkenny, Humane Society of the United States).

Some argue that animals have no rights, which are in fact true (Tibor R. Machan, A. Barton Hinkle). These beings cannot fight for themselves, but does that mean that they are to be subjected to this terror inflicted on them?

This is speciesism, or discrimination against other species, and is comparable to racism and sexism. Would you inflict this treatment, this pain, on people if they were a different race or sex? The United States of America has moved beyond this testing on people (unless voluntary), in fact most of the western world has; the last known testing was in Nazi Germany in the 1940’s. If we stopped this treatment on people, why can we not stop on animals? There are other artificial means to test on, such as in virtro testing, and cheaper too.
Animals are living beings too. They deserve to be treated as such.


1.
A. Barton Hinkle, "Do Animals Have Rights?," reason.com, Sep. 23, 2011
2.
Animal Welfare Act , gpo.gov, last amended June 18, 2008
3.
Carol Kilkenny et al., "Survey of the Quality of Experimental Design, Statistical Analysis and Reporting of Research Using Animals," PLOS One, 2009
4.
The Hastings Center, "Fact Sheet: Animals Used in Research in the U.S.," animalresearch.thehastingscenter.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
5.
Humane Society International, "About Animal Testing," hsi.org (accessed Oct. 15, 2013)
6.
Humane Society of the United States, "Questions and Answers about Biomedical Research," humanesociety.org, Sep. 16, 2013
7.
Kara Rogers, "Scientific Alternatives to Animal Testing: A Progress Report," britannica.com, Sep. 17, 2007
8.
Nature Genetics, "Editorial: Animal Research and the Search for Understanding," nature.com, 2006
9.
Nobel Media, "The Discovery of Insulin," nobelprize.org (accessed Oct. 16, 2013)
10.
Peter Singer, Animal Liberation, 2009
11.
Richard Dawkins, "But Can They Suffer," richarddawkins.net, June 29, 2011
12.
Tibor R. Machan, "Animals Do Not Have Rights," nytimes.com, Apr. 5, 2012
13.
US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), "Annual Report Animal Usage by Fiscal Year: 2010," aphis.usda.gov, July 27, 2011
14.
World Health Organization, "Poliomyelitis," who.int, Apr. 2013