Tayler

I have been seeing posters around my school that say stuff like “stop animal testing” or “Stop animal cruelty” and then the other day I got a Pony Express with an article in it about animal cruelty. A Pony Express is my school’s news paper but it isn’t a weekly or monthly thing, it is more like whenever they have enough articles to feel it up. What I don’t like about the newspaper is it doesn’t address our school issues. It says a bunch of things that doesn’t have to do with our school. But what I do like about it is that it still has interesting topics. And this one is one of the most debated.

Here is the article from the Pony Express:

Animal testing is a controversial issue around the world.

Although animal testing for products is not required by law, companies still do it anyway. Products are mostly tested on rats, mice, cats, dogs, apes, and rabbits. Often, animal testing can be dangerous to the animals and can cause them to get sick or die.

So, how do animals die and get hurt in experiments, in some cases, medical researchers deliberately hurt or alter animals to make the animal more like humans with a disease that the researchers are trying to cure. Most of the time, the animals get nothing to take away the pain from these tests. Some animals are even killed in front of other animals in cages, making them nervous and scared.

According to the Humane Society of the United States, there are about 2-4 million animals experimented on in the United States and it is estimated the tens of millions of rats are killed each year by experiments in the U.S alone. According to the European Union’s Commissioner, new discoveries also show that animal testing in the EU has increased by 3.2% from the year 2002-2005.

The types of things that are tested on animals can range from shampoo to cancer drugs. Almost ever medical treatment you use has been tested on animals first; even some food for cats and dogs are tested on animals. In addition, British law requires that “any new drug must be tested on at least two different species of live mammal. One must be a large non-rodent.”

Researchers claim that there are other tests that are cheaper and more accurate that could be used instead of testing on animals, but these tests are not used. One example of the new test that researchers try to use is artificial human skin made from skin cells donated to scientists. That test allows them to test makeup without harming animals or humans. Since this new test has come out, more and more researchers are beginning to use it.

Yet, there are some positive things about testing products on animals, such as finding cures to very important diseases. However, it has many negatives too. Animals have helped to find certain cures, but the don’t always have the same reaction that a human might have. One of the main reasons that scientists test n animals is because it is cheaper and it is supposed to be closer to the reactions of an actual human. On the other hand, the stress an animal endures can cause animal testing to be inaccurate anyway, though scientists say that it has not been proven that there are differences between the effects on an animal from a human.

The biggest issue in the debate is whether animals have as much right to live as human beings and if research on animals causes unnecessary deaths. For more information about animal testing, you can visit the website for The Humane Society of the United States: http://www.hsus.org/animals_in_research/animal_testing .

Well that’s the end of the article. Keep in mind the was written by a 14-15 year who goes to my school. Not that it wasn’t a bad article but in my opinion this isn’t the way to convince people to stop animal testing. I don’t like animal testing but I don’t really care either way. I love animals, but I cant be responsible for every dog or cat or rat out there. The animals are just going to roam the streets if they aren’t somewhere. And what makes me laugh is a ton of people call exterminators to kill rats or mice in there homes, but nobody complains about exterminators killing them. Do they think that is more humane? Poisoning them or trapping them till they starve to death? I think animals have the right to live and I don’t think it is right that some animal testers torture the animals but the only thing I can do is not become an animal tester. Its an interesting topic though.
Love,
Tayler!