It’s the simple things we do in life that can change how people see the world. The pain we inflict upon ourselves and our friends is nothing compared to the physical and mental pain inflicted upon animals each and every day. Animal testing isn’t a joke and it’s not something that should be taken lightly.
I have taken a personal interest in the topic because I feel strongly affected by it. I know quite a bit about this topic because; I have a friend ) who went through a hard time with animal testing. And I have been concerned about it for awhile. I know why they test on them and why it is necessary. But what I don’t understand or know is why we aren’t doing anything to try and take a different approach? I am interested in this because I am an animal lover and I don’t think what we are doing to them, and making the suffer to make new brands of hair products or make up for us is necessary, I think we could find a better way. It bugs me that we kill of maybe millions of animals a year and have to either make these animals reproduce or buy more. I wanted to research more about this topic and dig even deeper in to my understand about animals and their rights.
Some questions I had about my topic were:
1)
What do animals trials really tell us about humans?
2)
How do people truly feel about animal testing?
3)
What are the true animal rights?
4)
Who decided them?
5)
How did companies get the right to test on animals?
6)
How long did it take them to get the right to do it?
The process of obtaining my research was not too complicated or complex, but it was not the easiest task and finding useful information was a challenge at times. I simply typed in either “animal testing” or “animal rights” or something that had to do with animals and my topic. I got maybe twenty or more pages of useful and pointless websites. I started by clicking on the first website and I was lucky that I got a useful article. But Google is not the only place you can get good information. You can also go to your online school data base and look things up or find a useful video. Videos are more useful at times to, because they show you what really goes on inside the laboratories.
Once I found some articles and videos that helped and gave me good information. I printed my articles out and began annotating it and finding the information I wanted to include into my paper.
On day one it wasn’t hard finding a first article since it was the first website I clicked on to. But I can’t say I enjoyed annotating it, and reading all the little notes to go alone with it. But I looked for major or the most important facts. Some of the article talked about pointless things while it told me things I didn’t know like some of the animals that they tested on were dogs and cats.
The next week of research was a slow process that became harder. Most of the websites were pointless and told me nothing really. It became harder to find the right articles and since I already had to videos I need to find more articles to annotate. I had already annotated like 6 and need 2 more. My research method was not that unique. I basically just went to Google and the school data base. I found good information from an organization called PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and animal protection. I also found information online at CNN that talk about local laboratory testing on animals and discovering something new about their research.
Towards the end of the week my research slowed down and I couldn’t really find articles that were super useful and that gave me maybe one or two facts I could use. I got to thinking about how I was going to write the paper and work in my information and connections. I think that hardest part of the research was determining what to use and what to discharge. The end of the research was not very productive because I didn’t really find anything else and I didn’t really need anything else. However it was nice to have the free day to put all my information together and double check that I had enough. But what shocked me the most was how people in the videos I found were able to record it without getting sick or upset. And how the people testing on the animals looked so calm and uncaring.
So in other words the beginning was the easiest part of the whole research, the middle was the more productive part and getting lots of information. The end is the more easy going part putting everything together and finalizing it.
She sat there smiling into those large black eyes, his tail wagging behind his golden fur. He was a very happy puppy. He had a single black spot on his side, like bolts lightning bolt. It had been almost five years when Parker disappeared, Madi (16) had looked everywhere for him and with no luck of finding him she gave up. Madi sat in school doing research for her protesting group on animal testing such like this when she came across a video of dogs being abused and tested on and she noticed one of the dogs looked just like Parker, she thought ‘no it couldn’t be him’. Then she saw the black spot on his side and the black eyes and knew it was him. Her heart sank into her stomach, she emailed the company and explained to them that that was her dog and she wanted him back. A day later they wrote back saying sorry but that was impossible that he had died three years back. They claimed that he was found wondering the streets with no tags on.
Think to yourself if this was you and that was your dog. One little mistake and you could lose your friend forever. Think about the simple pain we inflict on each other it is nothing compared to the pain inflicted upon animals. Girls wear their make-up without a care in the world, trying to by the best that they can to look the best. About 99% of us don’t even stop to think about how it was made safe for us to wear. We buy expensive hair products, and make-up, even house hold appliance, all to have the best hair, look beautiful, and have a great smelling house, yet it’s at the cost of an animal’s life, a life they spent in a cage.
“Right now, millions of mice, rats, rabbits, primates, cats, dogs, and other animals are locked inside cold, barren cages in laboratories across the country. They languish in pain, ache with loneliness and long to roam free and use their minds” (PETA). These animals were probably once a pet or had a family of their own. Animals living in these conditions wait in fear for the next terrifying and painful procedure that will be performed on them. After enduring lives of pain, loneliness and terror, most almost dying and the unlucky ones live and have to endure excruciating pain over and over again. I believe that more than 100 million animals suffer each and every year, dying in cruel tests, most include chemicals, drugs, food, and cosmetics, as well as house hold appliances. The exact number of animals that dies each day, week, month, and year is unknown. I honestly hate that some people don’t even give a hoot about it and just think it’s not something to concern themselves with. But hey think about it this way they walked the Earth before we did and Noah saved them before his own neighbors, so why do be little them.
We do unusual things to learn more and more, to learn more complex things about a body and how it functions. “Millions of animals also suffer and die just for classroom experiments and dissections, even though modern alternatives have repeatedly been shown to teach students better, it saves teachers time and it saves the school money.” (PETA). “With the declarations, the animal rights movement affirmed its belief that there is no more difference between human beings and animals (Acharei Mot). When animals are being abused or hurt we do nothing, when we should see it as though it is a human being abused the same way if we looked at it like that how we would still feel.
“Conquer the world; descend to the fish of the sea, the birds or the sky, and to all animals that swarm the Earth.” (Bereishis). God originally put animals on Earth first and made it so they ruled alone, before man would ever step. However God did want us to utilize all things in the universe, including animals only if it deemed useful.
Animal testing is not a necessary I mean look at all the things we already have, do we honestly need more. Truly we are greedy people. Can’t we take what we have and learn from it to create more, or is it we are not smart enough? Find an alternate testing way. Stop testing and deal with what we have. That will not happen because though scientist look and act all smart they obviously are not!
Scientists sit in labs all day figuring out different ways of testing things, trying to find a different alternative way. “Increasing scientist are also looking at non-animal models to provide more and more answers” (Laura Blue, Tuesday 17, 2008). But what are the answers they are talking about and why won’t they tell us? “It’s everybody’s hope [that one day we could replace animal trials entirely with computer modeling]” (Laura Blue, Tuesday 17, 2008). So hopefully in the future we will have found an alternative way of testing. After all we are advancing in technology each year so maybe it will be a new evolution.
Still, even if we come up with a new way of testing how will we afford it? That’s just it we won’t be able to be we are already trying to get rid of the debt we have found ourselves deeper in. Even if the laboratories use their money they spent too much money on buying animals and paying each test. So once this debt of ours is gone then maybe we will be able to start truly doing something about this injustice situation. But animal testing is still necessary at this moment in order to maintain the human health/ safety. After all humans are the ultimate animal model; after all they say we evolved from apes!!
That’s a though!! Now to go back an answer my first question in the beginning (number one)
“Animals are surrogates for humans. The basic reason for animal trials is to determine two issues before any new compound is introduced into a human: safety and efficacy, whether a compound is safe for human ingestion and also whether or not a product works for its intended purpose. Really that process begins way before we get to animals.” (Laura Blue, Tuesday 17, 2008)

Still, I can’t say I agree with animal testing in anyway. But I have to admit that it is a necessary thing to do in order to obtain new knowledge for the human health. “All animals which live shall be for you to eat. Like vegetables, I have given them to you- all of them” (Bereishis). I agree with this quote, animals are essential to humans so that we don’t all have to eat nasty tofu. Even though I hate testing on animals and think that it is cruel, I think that until we find a different testing way, that using animals that can’t be saved from death or men that are in jail for life that are sentenced to the death penalty. That is horrible to say yes I know, but it is better than using living unsoiled humans and new born animals to test upon. If we act cruel to animals we act cruel towards our fellow humans as well. Any further questions about animal testing and rights I encourage you to do some of your own research.
Opinions of animal testing from fellow friends:
Allison Guile: It is bad and cruel and I think it needs to stop.
Carolina Petrix: I don’t think people should test on animals unless they want to be tested on as well.
Elliot Phantomhive: It’s disgusting that people can test on animals and not give a care in the world. They need to take more consideration in about what they are putting these animals through and not even caring about it.
Kyler Phantomhive: I don’t think it is a good thing, but think about it in the view of a cancer patient that is dyeing and these animal tests can help save their life. If that was the case then sadly I would say I am for it.
Bethany Emmert: I think animal testing is unnecessary and that we should stop.
Elise Brown: It’s certainly not beneficial to the animals to test cosmetics and other products on them, but what is the alternative?
Prissyilla Matthews: I don’t believe in it. I believe testing is necessary without animals.
April Salters: I disagree. Because for one of our bodies is different than that of an animal. Even though we are mammals we are still made up different. And no animal should be put through that kind of pain.
Mitch Anderson: I just don’t think it is right.
Matt Antrim: I don’t agree with it.
Rhonda Lynn: I think animal testing is cruel and unfair. Why can we test animals but not humans? Humans are a kind of animal too. We should have all those cruel things done to us. However I understand you have to study things to come up with cures and all of that and you will need test subjects for that. But they say cloning is wrong because you are playing God. Isn’t finding a cure playing God too? There for I think animal testing is immoral.