Breaunna Carpenter

Mrs. Jankowski

English 12A

26 February, 2017

Animal Testing

What if the government picked random people young and old without receiving that

persons permission to experiment on them with deadly chemicals? What if when that person is

picked they never see the light of day again and only interact with others when they are being

tested on? You would probably be outraged and even rebel stating that the government has

compromised the trust of its people. Well this way of life is all too common for animals living in

labs getting poked and prodded every day and for what? Frankly, animal testing is dangerous,

cruel, and a wasteful process through both money and time.

Animal testing is extremely dangerous. Since the product being tested has never been

used on any living thing before animals then we dont know what could happen. All too often a

new drug is injected into an animal in the lab and it dies from some form of reaction to the

drugs. If the animal survives the drug then scientist will go a step further by injecting a large

amount of that drug to determine a lethal amount for human consumption. Often times this

process kills the animal. Not only is it dangerous for the animals but it is also dangerous for the

people. There are drugs that have no negative effects on animals that can be deadly for

humans and some of these drugs were released to the public. For example a drug called

Vioxx was released that killed 140,000 people and caused 320,000 heart attacks. That

particular drug was tested on 5 different species of animals with no negative outcomes.

Although many think animal testing helps to keep people safe, it really doesnt. 95% of approved

drugs through animal testing fail in human trials. With these numbers it is pointless to even have

animal testing.
 Not only has animal testing shown to be inefficient but its also proven to be cruel. The

animals that are tested on are never given pain relievers. Some are in fact given medicine to

make them sleep but due to the lack of proper monitoring some animals go through painful tests

and surgeries feeling it all but unable to move. Animal that are tested on dont get recovery

periods, they go from one thing right to the next until they finally die from wear and tear or

stress. There is no retirement for these animals and also for some no light of day. Another

problem is that scientist have to artificially induce human diseases that animals cant even get

naturally causing a lot of factors that wouldnt be apart of how to cure the same disease from a

human. Some might argue that it better to use animals other than humans but what the point in

using animals if they cant have the same reactions to new drugs as humans can.

Internationally there are 4,300 companies that support and have animals testing

facilities. Since 1950 only 6% of those companies have actually approved a new drug. WHich

makes sense because the development of a new drug can be a long process but just think. In

66 years there have been about 7,500,000,000 animals tested on and killed and around

20,000,000,000 dollars spent on the development of something that probably still has at least 6

side effects. Each year there are approximately 115 million animals tested on and each year an

average of 25 new drugs make it to human trials. A pro to this is, if you're lucky then a life saving

drug can released every 9 years or so with about 20-40 side effects, including death.

The simple fact of the matter is, humans and animals arent similar enough to compare

reactions to certain stimuli. Meaning, animal testing over the years have proven to be helpless

and costly. Why waste lives, time, and money on a 100 year long experiment that doesnt work?

Think about it, do you thinks its worth it?

Work Cited

Cruelty Free International. Arguments against Animal Testing| Cruelty Free

International. Feb. 14, 2017

 Society, New England Anti-Vivisection. Animals in science/research Harm and

Suffering. N.P. N.d. Web. 14 Feb, 2017

Why animals are used. Read the four main Research Why animals are used in medical

research N.P. n.d. Web. 14 Feb, 2017