For many of years, animals are being used in research to develop new medicines and for scientists to test the safety of the medicines. Research is still being used all over the country. Animals are also being used in toxicology tests, cosmetic testing, “defense research” and “xenotransplantation”. In addition to scientist causing pain, most of the experiments that work on animals, fail for humans. Animal experiments are not the same as taking an animal to the vet. Animals used in laboratories are deliberately harmed, not for their own good, and usually killed at the end of the experiment. Multiple researchers have found other ways scientists can test new drugs and prevent animal testing since half of animal testing don’t even work on humans. But, there are some scientist that disagree and believe that animal testing is the best arrangement to help humans. The United States should ban animal testing because animal don’t need to experience so much pain when 95 percent of the treatment fails in human trails.

Currently with animal testing, there is a negative relationship on animals and a positive relationship on humans. According to Dr. Hadwen Trust, 600,000 animals were subjected to experiments that even the researchers considered had caused them moderate or severe suffering. Of the 2.098 million experiments conducted on animals, 53% (1.1 million experiments) actually ended up helping the humans. Animals are infected with diseases that they would never normally contract, tiny mice grow tumors as large as their own bodies, kittens are purposely blinded, rats are made to suffer seizures, and primates’ skulls are cut open and electrodes are implanted in them. After enduring these terrifying, painful procedures, animals are then usually dumped back into a cage without any painkillers.  Between 2010 and 2014, nearly half a million-excluding mice, rats, birds, and cold-blooded animals-were subjected to painful experiments and not provided with pain relief. No animals are safe from experimentation. Even when alternatives to use of animals are available, the law does not require that they be used- and often they aren’t. 

 “If we didn’t use animals, we’d have to test new drugs on people,” an individual (that has not been informed about ways other than animal testing) would state. PETA mentions that we already do test new drugs on people.  No matter how many tests on animals are undertaken, someone will always be the first human to be tested on. Because animals are so unreliable, they make those human trials all the more risky. The National Institutes of Health has noted that 95 percent of all drugs that are shown to be safe and effective in animal tests fail in human trials because they don’t work or are dangerous. And of the small percentage of drugs approved for human use, half end up being rebelled because of side effects that were not identified in tests on animals. Vioxx, Phenactin, E-Ferol, Oraflex, Zomax, Suprol, Selacryn, and many other drugs have had to be pulled from the market in recent years because of adverse reactions experienced by people taking them. Despite rigorous animal tests, prescription drugs kill 100,000 people each year, making them our nation’s fouth-largest killer.

Every year in the U.S., animal experimentation eats up billions of dollars (including 40 percent of all research funding from the National Institutes of Health), and nearly $3 trillion is spent on health care. While funding for animal experimentation and the number of animals used in experiments continues to increase, the U.S. still ranks 42nd in the world in life expectancy and has a high infant mortality rate compared to other developed countries. PETA concluded, “if research conducted on animals continues to be unable to reasonably predict what can be expected in humans, the public’s continuing endorsement and funding of preclinical animal research seems misplaced.”

The question is “what are the reasons for why animal testing is still happening today?” Some scientists agree that if there were better ways to test drugs and not do animal testing, they would. As much as scientist are trying to stop animal testing, it is difficult, and in most cases simply not yet possible, to replace the use of living animals in research with alternative methods. There are four main reasons why animals are used in research: to advance scientific understanding, as models to study disease, to develop and test potential forms of treatment, and to protect the safety of people, animals and the environment. As AnimalResearch.Info states, new medicines require testing because researchers must measure both the beneficial and harmful effects of a compound on a whole organism. It must be tested in a suitable animal model before clinical trials in humans can take place. 

There are many advantages to animal testing. Animals are appropriate research subjects because they are similar to human beings in many ways. Chimpanzees share 99% of their DNA with humans, and mice are 98% genetically similar to humans as Animal Testing ProCon.org states. Even some of the animals that are being tested on are harmed, most animals themselves benefit from the result of animal testing. If vaccines were not tested on animals, millions of animals would have died from rabies, distemper, feline leukemia, and etc. Additionally, animals do not have rights, therefore it is acceptable to experiment on them. If we granted animals rights, all humans would have to become vegetarians, and hunting would need to be outlawed. Animals also often make better research subjects than human beings because of their shorter life cycles. Laboratory mice, for example, live for only two to three years, so researchers can study the effects of treatments or genetic manipulation over a whole lifespan, or across several generations, which would be infeasible using human subjects. Also, animal research is highly regulated, with laws in place to protect animals from mistreatment. In addition to local and state laws and guidelines, animal research has been regulated by the federal Animal Welfare Act since 1966. All proposals to use animals for research must be approved by an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee set up by each facility. 

Scientist are starting to find other ways to test drugs/cosmetics. Gregory Mone who wrote New Models in Cosmetics Replacing Animal Testing, they started to discover other ways to test cosmetics. Such as a virtual body. NOTOX researchers are focusing on developing a virtual model of the liver which is the main detoxifying organ in the human body. The liver will be able to respond to an exposed toxic compound. This model finding match up to laboratory test which verifies its accuracy. The problem that Mone states is that “to establish the liver as a sold tool could take another five to ten years.” 

Cole who wrote Cruelty Free Cosmetics 101, provides other ways to do cosmetic testing without using animals. Methods like artificial tissue testing and test tube testing are alternative ways that can now be used. Artificial tissue grown in a laboratory has proved to provide better results on how likely a skin irritation on a person will occur compared to traditional animal testing. The use of test tube testing methods eliminates animals from being poisoned in order to differentiate toxic from non-toxic cosmetic ingredients. 

PETA also have found multiples ways on stopping animal testing by stating, “Human clinical and epidemiological studies, human tissue- and cell-based research methods, cadavers, sophisticated high-fidelity human-patient stimulators, and computational models have the potential to be more reliable, more precise, less expensive, and more humane alternatives to experiments on animals.” Advanced microchips that use real human cells and tissues to construct fully functioning postage stamp-size organs allow researchers to study diseases and also develop a model new drug to treat them. Scientists have also used human brain cells to develop a model “microbrain,” which can be used to study tumors, as well as artificial skin and bone marrow. Now scientists will be able to test skin irritation using reconstructed human tissues, produce and test vaccines using human tissue, and preform pregnancy tests using blood samples instead of killing rabbits.

Animal testing has many unreliable tests that don’t help humans the way it should, which proves that animal testing should be banned in the United States. Banning animal testing has more positives than negatives. Animals wouldn’t have to go through all that pain anymore for having the treatments to 95 percent fail on humans. When there are other ways to test new medicines/product as Gregory Mone, Natasha Cole, and PETA have stated, this would help not only humans but animals too. 

  