Should Animal Testing Be Illegal Essay

We wouldn’t subject our pets to burning, starving, and isolation, so why is it okay to subject other animals to this cruel treatment? Animal testing is harmful not only because it is unsafe, but because it poses a question of moral judgement. Testing on animals should be illegal because it is unethical, drugs that pass animal tests are not necessarily safe, and many animals lack the protection required for their safety.

Many people are unaware of the torture animals in labs must endure when being tested on. The harm animals undergo includes being infected with diseases they would not otherwise be susceptible to, electrocution, and having their spines crushed. This treatment that people are often unaware of is immoral, cruel, and unethical.

Animals have similar anatomy to humans, but it is still vastly different. What works on an animal could have a totally different effect on humans. For example, according to the FDA, Vioxx, a drug used to treat arthritis, was found to be safe when tested in monkeys (and five other animal species) but has been estimated to have caused around 320,000 heart attacks and strokes and 140,000 deaths worldwide. This proves that medical testing on animals isn’t necessarily beneficial considering the physiological differences between man and animal. But that’s not the only case of medical testing gone wrong. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, a clinical trial of Hepatitis B drug fialuridine had to be stopped because it caused severe liver damage in seven patients, five of whom died. It had been tested on animals first. The multiple claims of medicine tested on animals bringing harm to the very people it was designed to help shows that testing on animals poses a threat to not just animals, but humans as well. It 's a moot point to bring suffering to a living being if the reasoning behind the harm is