Should Animal Testing Be Permitted in the US?
Modern America today faces many controversial issues that has its citizens split on which side to take. An issue that has been discussed for quite a while is whether or not to permit animal testing. There are many pros and cons for each viewpoint. Animal testing has led to many lifesaving cures, but some say it is also cruel and inhumane to the animals. Animal research is highly regulated, with laws in place to protect animals from mistreatment. However, 95% of animals used in experiments are not protected by the Animal Welfare Act. The advantage to animal testing is sometimes that tested animals do lead to cures for their species, but the problem is that animal tests do not always reliably predict
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Ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, may have been first to reason humans consciousness and ability to reason place us in charge of all living things. From then on this belief was firmly believed and unopposed until the 1700’s. Although views were not dramatically shifted people began to believe in proper treatment of animals because they believed treating them well did a service to humanity. However, finally, in 1894 Henry Stephens Salt wrote animals are “entitled to their lives with a due measure” of freedom. Today Salt is credited for pioneering the concept of animal rights. But, in 1937 after a drug not tested by animals killed a hundred people it became law in 1938 to test any product on animals before testing it on humans. The new law enraged activists and to calm them animal testing facilities began following the three R’s; replace animals with non-animal subjects when possible, reduce the number of animals in a given test, and refine animal test procedures to make them less painful. This still was not enough to silence animal rights activists so in 1966 Congress passed the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) which regulated the treatment of animals used for scientific