Death to Animal Testing

In biology class freshmen year, I was required to dissect a fetal pig. I had to dismember the pig's intestines, drop chemicals on its skin and heart, and then remove its heart only to slice it open. The smell of formaldehyde and the eye-less sockets of the small 13 inch pig brought me to the brink of regurgitation. After I completed the assignment, I became a vegetarian. I was brought face to face with now my greatest aggravation, animal testing. Animal testing is unnecessary and cruel. I hope to persuade all of you that animal testing can be banned in the United States with new technology developing new techniques which do not hurt the animal and the enforcement of laws such as those proposed in Europe. Let's begin with the cruelty involved with animal testing.

Animal testing is a terribly cruel and torturous practice. According to StopAnimalTests.com, this problem kills over 115 million innocent animals each year and wastes millions of dollars due to unreliable test results. The testing methods used on animals are sick and morbid. When scientists and researchers falsify or conclude testing too early, results can have devastating effects on the human body.

First off, animals are innocent victims used for product, biomedical testing and research. According to the PETA official websites, animals can be tested by stuffing them into inhalation chambers, beating them to make them easier to test on, dismembering the animals and dissecting them after given lethal doses of toxic substances to see the effects of the chemicals on their bodily systems. An article in the TimesOnline.co.uk written by Marie Woolf exposed tests at Glasgow University where rats were fed raspberry juice and then were killed to see where the juice had gone in their kidneys, liver and brains.

Animal testing is unreliable because the effects of these chemicals, such as pesticides, cosmetics and especially biomedical drugs, can have serious adverse effects to the human body. You cannot trust a drug to be tested on a rat and expect it to have the same effect on human beings.

First, human beings have stronger emotions and the drug can have different results if the drug can influence one's emotions. Secondly, the drug can biological impair human beings. For example, online journalist, Matthew Hartfield and author of Animals and Alternatives in Testing, Joanne Zurlo, state that the drug thalidomide was given to pregnant women in the sixties for morning sickness. After these women gave birth to deformed children, researchers realized that thalidomide was the reason these children would have to live with their deformities for the rest of their lives. Now that we have addressed the problem and its repercussions, let's learn about the solutions to this animal holocaust.

With man successfully proven techniques and law used in Europe, the United States should not have an issue banning the use of animals for product testing. New technology brings on new non invasive techniques, such as in vitro blood samples are still being researched, however, there are techniques used to save animals. One practiced alternative, according to PETA is embryonic stem cell testing used to replace birth defect testing in rats and rabbits. Another alternative is human skin model testing. Human skin is donated to research companies from surgical procedures. Researchers use these skin samples to replace skin corrosion tests on rabbits. This method is used for EPISKIN, EpiDerm and Corrositex tests in laboratories. The in vitro procedures are still being developed. In vitro basal cytotoxicty methods are being replaced by acute oral toxicity tests. Another method still under development is the Isolated Chicken Eye test method, or ICE test. The American Anti-Vivisection Society describes, "The test uses tissue obtained from slaughterhouses to detect ocular irritants."

Along with improved technology, new laws will help make it even more possible to ban animal testing from the United States. Europe has passed legislative laws progressing towards the abolition of animal testing. Animal and Alternatives in Testing author, Joanne Zurlo, explains the 1992 European Union ban on marketing cosmetics containing substances tested on animals. If manufactures cannot make profit, they will have to reconsider the ingredients of their products resulting in the elimination of animal testing. In an article written by Marie Woolf of the Independent, the European Union has agreed to ban animal testing of cosmetics beginning in 2009 and also agreed to outlaw the sale of new cosmetics tested on animals. Marie Woolf interviewed Wendy Higgins of the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection. Woolf quotes Higgins stating, "Without a total and immediate sale ban, animals will continue to die outside Europe so that the products can be sold inside Europe." These laws will help eliminate animal testing in countries like the United States.

Now that you all have learned that banning animal practice is possible for the United States, I urge you to protest against the convenience of animal testing. Groups such as the Humane Society of the United States, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals all offer information on how to make a difference and contact these laboratories, companies and universities to tell them how you feel about their animal abuse. PETA also offers information on becoming a vegetarian. If anyone would like information on vegetarianism, please go to the official PETA website.

I hope you all will be more aware of the products you use on a daily basis, the foods you eat and the medicine you take. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, a pacifist and vegetarian, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

Citations:

"Animal Testing Alternative." AAVS. American Anti-Vivisection Society. .

Hartfield, Matthew. "Animal Testing: No time for hysteria." The Journal 1113 Oct 2008 17 Nov 2008 .

Marshall, Jane. "Facts About Animal Testing." About Animal Testing. 2008. PtS. 29 Oct 2008 .

Unknown, "PETA Names the 10 Worst CEOs for Animals in Laboratories." Stop Animal Tests. PETA. 31 Oct 2008 .

Woolf, Marie. "EU agrees to ban animal testing on cosmetics from 2009." The Independent 08 Nov 2002 17 Nov 2008 .

Woolf, Marie. "Health food fads spark huge rise in animal testing." The Sunday Times 30 Dec 2007 17 Nov 2008. .

Zurlo, Joanne, and Deborah Rudacille. Animals and Alternatives in Testing: History, Science, and Ethics. NY: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc, 1994.