ISSUE OVERVIEW: ANIMAL TESTING ​ ​1

Issue Overview: Animal Testing

Brooke Silcox

Tippecanoe High School

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In a year it is estimated that at least one hundred and fifteen million animals are subjected

to animal testing against their own will. These animals include rabbits, rats, birds, fish, dogs,

cats, and monkeys. Out of that one hundred and fifteen million, it’s estimated that one hundred

million animals die each year. This shows that innocent animals are being tortured and that the

scientists are just using them as subjects to make a profit out of. All animal testing both medical

and cosmetic should be stopped and the animals shouldn’t be subjected to these painful and

inaccurate tests.

The first thing that we have to realize about animal testing is the animal’s anatomy and

human anatomy are not the same, which means that the results could show a positive correlation

towards the animals when they tested it but when they give it to people it could cause a huge

problem (Liu 2012). Toxicologists, which are scientists that deal with chemical hazards, use the

Ld50 test to expose new chemicals like medicine or dangerous chemicals like radon to a group of

animals and see how they react to it (Li 2018). After each dose, if they’re not dead yet then

they’ll add more and more until it kills them. They mark all of this data down on a graph and call

it the dose-response curve. “The toxicologists then take the number of how much of the chemical

took to kill the animal they then divide that by ten and then ten again just to be sure and safe that

the information is right and they’re able to give it to humans” (Liu 2012). This shows that

scientists take a huge group of animals and are killing them so that humans can have extra safety

and precaution. Going into these tests scientists know that the animals are going to die and if

they do not die then they know that they are going to suffer injuries from the exposure to these

foreign chemicals.
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Some people have concerns about if we get rid of animal testing then how will we know

if it is dangerous to humans or not? Well in this source by Good Medicine, the author says

“animal testing is not realistic enough for a scientist to compare the result that they got from the

animals to humans” (Good Medicine 2019). The EPA is designing and working on new ways

the provide alternatives to animal testing. The Environmental Protection Agency has given out

grants to prevent the use of animals being tested and found new ways to find solutions. Along

with making alternatives to prevent animal testing scientists have created the idea to create a

human model so that they don’t have to test on animals or alive humans. This model will be

made with real human tissue and they will be “chipped” in order to replicate as if the organs and

tissue were alive (Good Medicine 2019). By doing this scientists can see how these dangerous

chemicals and new medicines will affect a human’s body directly without anyone or animal

getting hurt in the process. This is a new development in medicine and technology and scientists

say that this should put an end to the suffering of animals.

Animals don't get a lot of the same diseases and cancers that humans do and that’s

because animals do not subject themselves to things that are bad for their health like how humans

do. For example drinking and smoking. “Humans have little to no resistance when it comes to

emerging diseases” (Good Medicine 2019). So that means that scientists have to work fast and

find ways to treat it. Even if that means killing a bunch of innocent animals to do so. To discover

new ways to treat cancer and emerging diseases scientists artificially induce these diseases into

the animal to mimic what it would be like. So when they test on the animals they will show

somewhat accurate results but in the process of this it takes too long and scientists can barely

find a cure like for example cancer (Good Medicine 2019). Artificial diseases aren't always
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correct and don't match up to what someone with the actual disease would respond to. So when

they give out the medicine to people it’s taking a risk on how people will react to it. Nobody

reacts the same way to medicines and that’s why before you’re given the medicine you have to

know all the side effects that could happen to you.

Jarrod Bailey and Michael Balls, say “testing on animals allows them to obtain good

information without putting human life at risk” (Bailey and Balls 2019). Bailey and Balls try to

make clear on how animal testing is beneficial to humans and the industry of modern technology

and medicine. When in reality, most of the time the tests don't come out accurate and it has to do

a lot of trials. This means using more animals and leaving the other animals that have been tested

to suffer. Bailey and Balls explain that “testing on these animals protects the consumers and the

environment from these harsh chemicals” (Bailey and Balls 2019). In all recent medical

breakthroughs, testing on animals was the main cause of how scientists came to their conclusion

on how to help illnesses but that doesn’t account for what is the main cause for people dying to

this day and that’s cancer (Bailey and Balls 2019). These helpless animals are being taken from

their habitats just so humans can have the luxury of good medicine and expensive cosmetic

products. An animal shouldn’t have to suffer just to make sure you look good (Issue Overview:

Animal Testing 2016). A lot of people don't notice how many everyday products we use are

made from animals currently. By buying these products we are funding the company and giving

them the option to make more of that product.

This controversy of banning animal testing has been going on for a long time. Animal

testing has been the main answer to testing new products for decades. Scientists have relied on

the animals to give them good informational feedback over the years, but now that technology is
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advancing animal testing should be starting to decline. With the new information on how to test

for diseases and treat them without the use of innocent animals is the answer. Scientists are

developing alternatives and although they are still in the process of perfecting them, animal

testing should be stopped in the near future.

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Works Cited

Jarrod Bailey, & Michael Balls. (2019). Recent efforts to elucidate the scientific validity

of animal-based drug tests by the pharmaceutical industry, pro-testing lobby

groups, and animal welfare organizations. ​BMC Medical Ethics,​ ​1,​ 1.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12910-019-0352-3

EPA’s New Plan To End Animal Testing: Nonanimal Technology Comes of Age. (2019).

Good Medicine​, ​28​(4), 6–8.

Issue Overview: Animal Testing. (2016, November 17). Retrieved February 9, 2020,

from

https://newsela.com/read/lib-procon-animal-testing/id/23098/?collection_id=339

Li, Y., Tsukamoto, S., Long, H., Zhang, J., Yang, L., He, Z., & Frechen, M. (2018).

Testing the reliability of fading correction methods for feldspar IRSL dating: A

comparison between natural and simulated-natural dose-response curves.

Radiation Measurements,​ ​120,​ 228–233.

https://doi-org.sinclair.ohionet.org/10.1016/j.radmeas.2018.06.025

Liu, Y. Y. B., Rigsby, P., Sesardic, D., Marks, J. D., & Jones, R. G. A. (2012). A

functional dual-coated (FDC) microtiter plate method to replace the botulinum

toxin LD50 test. ​Analytical Biochemistry,​ ​425(​ 1), 28–35.

https://doi-org.sinclair.ohionet.org/10.1016/j.ab.2012.02.038
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