Essay Against Animal Testing

Animal experimentation has been documented for hundreds of years. The initial use of testing on animals instead of humans is credited to ancient physicians in Greece. These physicians decided to use animals as their test subjects for medicine, as opposed to using humans, because of taboos in their community. They believed that by testing on animals they would be granted a higher ranking in the “scala naturae” or the chain of being (Franco). 15 centuries later and animals are still subjected to the cruelty they have been facing for over 1000 years. The animals being tested upon are the same animals that reside in millions of homes as household pets. According to a 2017-2018 study made by the Insurance Information Institute, 68% of households

There have been numerous recorded examples of drugs that have worked on animals, but then proceeded to not work on humans. Animal testing is misleading, “94% of drugs that pass animal tests fail in human clinical trials” (Nine). Not only does this prove that animal testing is ultimately ineffective, but it also shows how the deceiving results could potentially cause harm to humans. For example, in the 1950s a sleeping pill called thalidomide was commercially released as it was proved to be effective on animals. However, the pill went on to cause more than 10,000 babies to be born with birth defects (Science). Thousands of babies had deformities because tests on hamsters and rats showed the pill to be effective. Additionally, “Animal tests on the arthritis drug Vioxx showed that it had a protective effect on the hearts of mice, yet the drug went on to cause more than 25,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths before being pulled from the market” (Vioxx). Animal testing is extremely misleading in the medical field. Scientists attempt to link the results of testing drugs on animals to its effectiveness on humans. There is an extreme lack of results that comes from animal testing, furthering that scientists should use methods that do not involve animals when testing new drugs and other medical