The Cruelty and Inaccuracy of Animal Testing

This month I will be discussing in more detail the cruelty and inaccuracy of animal testing.

Most of the animals that are used in animal tests are bred for this purpose; they have never experienced freedom, never had a chance to live anywhere except in a lab. They are not criminals, they don’t start wars, they don’t ruin the planet and yet they are regarded as lower beings. How is this fair?

Studies prove that animal feel pain the same way that we do, they feel loneliness, loss and desperation the same way that we do. Yet we still keep them locked in tiny, dark cages, all alone. On top of this they are used in all manner of tests including exposure to drugs, chemicals or infectious diseases at levels that cause illness, pain and distress, or death, periods of physical restraint for observation or examination, food and water deprivation, the infliction of wounds, burns and other injuries to study healing the infliction of pain to study its physiology and treatment and they are eventually killed by carbon dioxide asphyxiation, neck-breaking, or decapitation.

As well as treating these creatures so terribly we also can end up with quite inaccurate results. If all products that we used went through the same level of testing that some products do it would mean no chocolate or coffee, these may be simple treats for us but for animals it causes vomiting and diarrhea, panting, excessive thirst and urination, hyperactivity, abnormal heart rhythm, tremors, seizures and even death. There would be no more aspirin or any other pain and fever medications because while it cures us it is toxin in for animals, causing bone marrow suppression, bleeding, inflammation of the liver, kidney disease, and stomach ulceration. Also there would be no more alcoholic beverages, this may be something that humans do for fun it can lead to vomiting, diarrhea, decreased coordination, central nervous system depression, difficulty breathing, tremors, abnormal blood acidity, coma and even death, in animals. Clearly there are significant differences in the way that people and animals react to products, yet we still rely so much on the results of tests that are testing on these same animals.

Humans have various differences with the other members of the animal kingdom, we differ from looks all the way down to our biological structures. Animal species contract different illnesses, their bodies react in many different ways and they have different levels of tolerance to things. So why is it that we still have so much faith in the tests that we do on these animals. It has been proven time and time again that they do not work but we still continue to do the same test over and over again, even testing products that have already been tested, with no respect to the life of poor creature that has to endure these experiments. The USA Food and Drug Administration has reported that 92 percent of drugs approved in the animal testing phases failed to receive approval for human use. Despite this fact there are still over 115 million animals used annually testing products.

We have proof that animal tests are cruel and horrible for the animals and are scientifically inaccurate. We need to start moving away from the ancient methods of testing and start moving to a more sustainable and more ethical way to ensure the safety of not only our fellow human being but also the other creature who share this beautiful world that we live in.

We need to help give a voice to those who don’t have one. We need to help fight for those who can’t do it themselves. And we need to help protect those who require our protection.

#Animals