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Why Is Chimpanzees Unethical

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Chimpanzees are one of the many animals that are used by scientists in experiments to test new medicines and procedures on in order to find new treatments for humans. This type of animal is very genetically similar to human beings and is closely related to humans. Chimpanzees have cognitive skills and behaviors that closely resemble human skills. Because of this similarity between chimpanzees and human beings, an increased amount of people now believe that testing on chimpanzees should be banned and is morally wrong. Experimenting and testing new products on chimpanzees is unethical because they are the most genetically similar animal to humans, they are able to experience emotions and feelings, and they are the closest living relative to …show more content…

Testing new products on any living organism that has the ability to experience emotions and feelings and is genetically similar to human beings is unethical. This is considered unethical because if the animal being tested on is very similar to a human being and is caused pain and distress in the experiment, then that is almost the same thing as testing on a human and causing them to suffer which is considered unethical and morally wrong by a majority of people. The argument "If they are so like us that we can test on them, then they are so like us that we are morally obligated not to test on them"(Why) supports the statement that testing new medicines on animals that are similar to humans is wrong and unethical. It makes the point that it is necessary for animals to be very similar to humans in order for scientists to recieve accurate results from the experiments, but if animals are so much like humans then it is not right to cause them pain when we do not cause humans to suffer just to find new cures and treatments. The argument "We conduct psychological testing upon monkeys and chimpanzees because they are mentally like us. Yet, if these animals really are like us, we …show more content…

Chimpanzees are able to experience emotions and feelings and are the most genetically similar animal to humans. A study says that "Experiments have also been shown to cause chimpanzees to have social withdrawal, anxiety, and loss of appetite"(Chimpanzees) and proves that chimpanzees have cognitive abilities and are able to experience emotions because when they were used in experiments, it caused them to stop eating and socializing with others due to the anxiety they were forced to experience. Chimpanzees' needs cannot be met in a laboratory where experiments take place and this causes them to feel anxiety and to become less social. Another study completed on chimpanzees says "We have seen orphaned baby rhesus monkeys lavish affection upon cardboard surrogate mothers and watched chimps and gorillas communicate through sign language"(Why). This shows the reader that chimpanzees have the ability to effectively communicate in an advanced and civilized way which proves that they are similar to human beings since they have complex communication skills. This also shows that chimpanzees are similar to humans because instead of making various noises to communicate that cannot be understood by humans, some Chimpanzees communicate by using sign language which is used by many humans and is able to be comprehended. Another

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