Pros And Cons Of Animal Testing

“More than 100 million animals are poisoned, burned, crippled, and abused in other ways in U.S. labs each year” (“Top Five Shocking”). Animal testing has become a deeply divided subject, with strong justification supporting each side. The debate regarding the ethics of this controversial practice is ongoing. Supporters of animal experimentation argue the viewpoint in which it must continue because of the enormous scientific research that animal models provide. Others, however, insist that all animal experimentation should come to an end. The pros and cons of animal testing have been undeviating since the beginning of animal testing history. The use of animals for medical research is said to be ethical if it contributes to scientific developments.

The California Biomedical Research Association states that nearly every medical breakthrough in the last 100 years has resulted directly from research using animals ("Animal Testing - ProCon.org"). As stated by the AALAS Foundation, “In the United States, 7% of the population have diabetes. Over 1 million new cases of diabetes are diagnosed each year, and based on death certificate data, diabetes contributed to nearly 225,000 deaths in 2002 alone” ("Benefits of Animal Research”). With diabetes being such a common and unfortunate illness, an experiment took place in which dogs had their pancreas’ removed, which was crucial to the development of insulin. The polio vaccine was tested on animals and reduced the global occurrence of the disease from 350,000 cases in 1988 to only 223 cases in 2012. The AALAS Foundation took a further examination towards the disease and discovered, “Today, the disease has been eliminated from most of the world; only 16 countries worldwide have cases of polio in limited areas (Cornell University Feline Health Center; UNICEF)” ("Benefits of Animal Research”). Research involving animals has also helped identify the causes of high blood pressure and the development of more effective drugs to control the issue. Along with humans, animals also benefit from biomedical research. With much additional work necessary in order to explain certain diseases and treatments, the AALAS Foundation reported, “Feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) and feline leukemia virus (FeLV) infections are major causes of death in cats. In the U.S., it is estimated that 2–3% of all cats are infected with one or both of these diseases” ("Benefits of Animal Research”). Dogs and cats have been frequently tested on in order to advance medicine used for illnesses in their own species. An additional point which supports testing on animals is the span of their life