Animal testing is a vital and common procedure that has raised controversy regarding humanistic values. Animal testing has allowed for the development of safe medicine, vaccines, and advancements in scientific knowledge. Without the sacrifices made during animal testing, we would not have the achievements in medication, knowledge, cosmetics, and saving lives. Without animal testing, it would be impossible to conduct further research that would benefit the public. People against animal testing argue that animals suffer pain and may die from the experiments made on them.
According to source E, it is still a myth whether or not animals actually feel pain. If animal tests are done on animals without awareness and on animals that have low cognitive capacities, it would reduce psychological pressure for scientists. The author of source F argues that humans have the freedom to make choices while animals don’t. The author of source F also states that it is the responsibility of human beings to protect the rights of animals. If animals do not have sentience and if they cannot recognize the circumstances they are in, why should we not perform experiments on them?
Humanists would argue that all living organisms have their right to survive and their right to be free from pain. Humanists would also argue that animal experiments should not be performed. Then how, how are we able to find replacements for these animals to conduct our experiments on? According to source B, 20 million animals are killed in experiments annually. It would be absurd to believe that there are enough human volunteers to even get close to that number. Without developed human cloning technologies, it would be hard to find replacements for such a large number to experiment subjects. 0 million animals is surely a large number, but the number that benefit from these 20 million is surely greater. People tend to have an egocentric thought when they think about animal testing. The idea that sparks in the mind when someone hear about animal testing is usually the thought that, “Oh, another animal is sacrificed for human benefits”. That isn’t necessarily true. Take the examples that source A describe. The amount of organisms that would die if animal experiments were not conducted would actually be greater than the amount of tested subjects that have died.
It is not just humans that benefit from animal testing, but many other organisms as well. Animal testing is vital for developing new scientific ideas, saving lives, and reducing illness. Within a limited moral boundary, animal testing should be allowed. Before criticizing animal tests, people should try to gain a better understanding of the balance between the effects of these tests and the sacrifices put into these tests. Clearly, the benefits brought by animal testing are far greater than the price we pay for these tests.
