Have you ever looked into the eyes of an innocent animal? It’s soft fur and warm eyes, doesn’t that just make you feel so cozy and happy? Animals have always been around us, as hunters, companions, family, pets, and friends. But we pay them back by testing on them? Just to create one can of pesticide requires 50 experiments on over twelve thousand animals. But do we ever stop to think about them? Sure, we have pets; but imagine the same animals being tested upon in a lab. They are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused, to create shampoos and toothpaste. Jacques-Louis David, a 1780’s artist stated, “God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loves the birds and invented cages.” We love our pets, while the same species is trapped in a lab, awaiting experiments that include abuse and pain. Why are animals being tested upon if they were once respected? Why are animals being tested upon if there are other alternatives?

In Ancient Egypt, the cats were worshipped above all others and were treated as equals. In fact, More than equals. They were treated and respected as a superior. To kill a cat was a crime punishable by death. But in the previous year alone, 13.4 million cats were killed. Back in Ancient Egypt, a death of such proportions would be unthinkable. When a cat died, the members of the house would shave off their eyebrows in deep sadness. Now, we won’t even bat an eye if a cat is killed in the pursuit of animal testing. Diodorus Siculus stated that, “Whoever kills a cat in Egypt is condemned to death, whether he committed this crime deliberately or not.” The ancient Egyptians even lost the Persian War because the enemy captured and threatened to kill them if the Egyptians didn’t surrender. Now let me ask you a question. If the only way to save an animal from animal testing would be to give up a victory, would you do it? Or would you leave a cat to be killed just for the creation of a garbage bag or a bottle of shampoo?

The sad thing about animal testing is the fact that there are other ways we can find out how products, such as drugs, affect the human body. For example, the Drosophila fruit fly would be perfect for testing drugs because it has neurological pathways similar to humans. We can use machines, flies, and bugs to test drugs on. Not mammals. According to Dr. Elias Zerhouni, “We have moved away from studying human disease in humans. The problem is that animal testing hasn’t worked, and it’s time we stopped dancing around the problem. We need to refocus and adapt a new set of systems for use in humans, to understand disease biology. New Science Magazine also states, “ Improved technologies for imaging and remote recording of vital signs such as heartbeat mean that multiple measurements can be taken from the same animal.” Harvard’s Wyss Institute has also invented organ-on-chips. This chip consists of human cells that were grown to mimic organ systems. This organ-on-chips are more reliable than animal tests, and more effective. Another alternative to animal testing is a computer system that resembles the human biology and can replicate the progression of advancing disease. These computer systems can predict how a drug will react to the human body. This method is more accurate than animal testing and its safer too. Instead of using animals to test on, we can use other alternatives.

My opponent might say that animal testing is necessary to find how drugs work in the human body. I would argue back that there are other ways to find how drugs and medicine  and other products could affect humans. Or we could use a computer that replicates a human body and can predict the advancement of drugs. Or we could use the organ-on-chips to replace animals for disease, toxicity, and drug testing.

Have you ever seen a commercial advertised on TV and saw that the company has tested on animals? Even if you haven’t, what would you do if you did? Would you care that animals are being killed everyday, or would you want to do something? If you have a pet, could you imagine killing it just to create a bottle of soap, or a garbage bag? This is where we need to change. You may be asking yourself. How can I do anything? I’m only just one person. How can I make a difference? Well, you could start by using products that don’t test on animals. Or you could protest against animal testing. Or you could start a petition to abolish animal testing. If you start by changing in a small way, you could affect other people around you. You can make a difference. There are many other ways to test drugs and products than on animals. We have to speak up for the animals that can’t.

100 million Cats, dogs, rabbits, monkeys, rats, and frogs, are all killed in the pursuit to create drugs and other products that we use. Just to create one pesticide, requires 50 experiments on over 12,000 animals. But do we ever stop to think about them. Sure, we have pets, but imagine the same animals being tested upon in a lab. They are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused, in labs to create shampoos or garbage bags. The sad part is, there are other alternatives to animal testing, and that they were once respected and were treated as equals. Jacques-Louis David, a 1780’s artist stated, “God loved the birds and invented trees. Man loves the birds and invented cages.” Humans have pets. Another quote is from They love their dogs and cats, while the same species is trapped in a lab somewhere, awaiting experiments and poking and prodding needles. We love our pets, so why are we letting animal experimentation happen?

In Ancient Egypt, the cats were worshipped above all others and were treated as equals. In fact, More than equals. They were treated and respected as a superior. To kill a cat was a crime punishable by death or cruel labor. But now, 13.4 million cats were killed in the previous year alone. Back in Ancient Egypt, such a death would be unthinkable. When a cat died, the members of the house would shave off their eyebrows. Now, we won’t even bat an eye if a cat is killed because of animal testing. Diodorus Siculus stated that, “Whoever kills a cat in Egypt is condemned to death, whether he committed this crime deliberately or not. The people gather and kill him. An unfortunate Roman, who accidentally killed a cat, could not be saved, either by King Ptolemy of Egypt or by the fear which Rome inspired.” The ancient Egyptians also lost the Persian War because it was a threat to the cats. Now let me ask you a question. If the only way to save an animal from animal testing would be to give up a victory, would you take it? Or would you leave the cat to die?

The sad thing about animal testing is the fact that there are other things we can test upon. For example, the Drosophila fruit fly would be perfect for testing drugs because it has a similar neurological pathway as humans do. We could use machines or flies and bugs to test drugs on. Not mammals. Dr. Elias Zerhouni “We have moved away from studying human disease in humans. We all drank the Kool-Aid on that one, me included. The problem is that [animal testing] hasn’t worked, and it’s time we stopped dancing around the problem,” he continued. “We need to refocus and adapt new methodologies for use in humans to understand disease biology in humans.” New Science Magazine also states that “In vitro research has already supplanted much animal experimentation, a trend which will continue as more complex cell types and configurations are replicated in the lab. Improved technologies for imaging and remote recording of vital signs such as heartbeat mean that multiple measurements can be taken from the same animal. Harvard’s Wyss Institute has invented organs-on-chips. This chip consists of human cells that were grown to mimic organ systems. This organs-on-chips are more reliable than animal tests, and more effective. Another alternative to animal testing is a computer system that resembles the human biology and can replicate the progression of advancing disease. These computer systems can predict how a drug will react to the human body. This method is more accurate than animal testing and its safer too. Instead of using animals to test on, we can use other alternatives.

Someone who would not agree with my point of view would say that animal testing is necessary to test on animals to find how drugs that treat or prevent disease work in the human body. I would argue back that there are other ways to find how drugs and other products could affect humans. Or they could use a computer that replicates a human body and can predict the advancement of drugs. Or we could use the organ-on-chips to replace animals for disease, toxicity, and drug testing.

Animal testing is a big issue today. Many products such as lotions, garbage bags, toothpaste, and pesticide test on animals. Millions of animals are killed every year. That’s where we need to change. We have pets. If you have a pet, could you look it in the face and kill it, just to create a tube of toothpaste or a bottle of pesticide? You may be asking yourself. How can I do anything? I’m only just one person. How can I make a difference? Well, you could start by using products that doesn’t test on animals. If you start to make a small change, you could affect other people. You can make a difference. There are many other ways to test drugs and products than on animals. Let’s end animal testing.

Bibliography:
http://animal-testing.procon.org/
http://www.richeast.org/htwm/cats/cats.html
http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/alternatives-animal-testing/
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=fcaf15ae-b4c8-4724-aa01-feb08a1eaca6%40sessionmgr4005&hid=4201&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ulh&AN=36889336
http://www.think-differently-about-sheep.com/Animal_Rights_A_History_Gearge_Bernard-Shaw.htm
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=e7affe4a-082b-480a-ad3d-2911b6295ea1%40sessionmgr112&vid=1&hid=120&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=ulh&AN=84339236