Should Animals be Used for Scientific Researches - Essay Example

Should Animals Be Used For Scientific Researches The human race has advanced and reached an eraof development and technology. Advancements have been seen in every field including the field of medicine. Research work and experiments are considered to be central to the progress of medical science and for the development of new therapeutic techniques for curing different ailments and pathological conditions. Animals have been used around the world since a very long time for conducting these research activities in the laboratories and research organizations.

This has led to spark many debates as it has been put forward that animals are misused in these researches and the use of animals should be prohibited for the scientific researches. On the other hand, there are opponents of this stand who believe that the use of animals is extremely important for conducting medical research work. The using of animals for scientific researches has been a controversial subject and there are proponents as well as opponents of the usage of animals for experimental purposes.

The use of animals in research work has increased and statistics from the year 2005 revealed the fact that 115 million animals were experimented and researched upon around the world in that year alone. These figures may be considered to be an underestimation owing to the fact that many countries do not have proper counted figures of the animals used for the lab researches. It has also been highlighted that rodents form the majority of the animals used for research and the other animals include primates, cats and dogs.

Thus, it can be seen that there are millions of animals used every year for research purposes (Randerson 2008). According to Doctor Colin Blakemore who is a professor of neuroscience at Oxford and Warwick Universities, animal research has been a very essential tool for the development of medical science. He has presented the fact that the invention of antibiotics for the treatment of infections, insulin for the treatment of diabetes as well as the introduction of vaccines for the prevention of polio and cervical cancer is all attributable to the experiments that were conducted on animals.

He also highlighted the fact that the transplantation of organs as well as the different medications available for HIV have only been introduced owing to the research work that has been done on animals. Furthermore, Dr. Blakemore indicated the fact that important medications like Avastin which is used to treat bowel, breast and lung cancers and Herceptin which is used for the treatment of breast cancer have only become available after they were tested and successfully created by experiments of mice.

He used the example of a research in which an electronic brain that was transplanted in a disabled monkey proved to help the monkey in moving its arms and legs. It has also been put forward that animal research holds much benefit as it can pave ways for searching medical treatments that can be of assistance for treating different medical conditions (Blakemore 2008). The using of animals for scientific research purposes has been met with criticism by many groups as well. According to the results of a Pew Research, it was seen that 43 percent people did not support the use of animals for research activities.

It was also indicated that the people who supported these researches only did so owing to the concept that these experiments were involved in the finding of cures for different ailments. But this concept has been explained to be incorrect. According to an article from The Journal of the American Medical Association, the results of animal research work should not be considered to provide definitive answers. This was also upheld by Dr. Richard Klausner who was the Director of The National Cancer Institute.

He explained that the treatment of cancer had been found in mice a long time ago but these treatments have failed to treat cancer in human beings (PeTA). Dr. Gill Langley who is the science director at the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research also provided evidence against the using of animals for research work. Dr. Langley presented the fact that the animals were treated in the worst possible ways for conducting these researches and it was highly unjustified and unethical to inflict such pain upon the animals in the name of research.

He put forward the fact that diseases are introduced into animals and many animals are given poisons without any measures to reduce their pain. He further explained that research animals are burnt, their brains are injured and the working of their heart is also altered for conducting researches. He also explained that the usage of animals in research work was not of any additional use. He cited the fact that 37 successful vaccines for HIV on animals have proved to be unsuccessful for curing human disease.

In a similar way, 95 drugs that proved to treat stroke in animals did not work on humans. Thus, he explained the fact that these research activities did not yield much benefit and there was no point of killing so many animals for these scientific researches (Langley 2008). The using of animals for scientific researches has been a very controversial topic. It has been subjected to many debates. The stand of the opponents of using animals in medical research is stronger. They explain the fact that the unjust and inhuman treatment on animals is not justified by any means.

Furthermore, these research activities do not provide for treatments owing to the differences between the human beings and the animals. Thus, animals should not be used for scientific researches. Works Cited Blakemore, Colin. “Should we experiment on animals? Yes.” The Telegraph. 28 Oct. 2008. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. Langley, Gill. “Should we experiment on animals? No.” The Telegraph. 28 Oct. 2008. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. PeTa. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. “Animal Experiments: Overview.” Web. 29 Oct. 2011. Randerson, James.

“Vivisection: Study finds 115 million animals used in tests worldwide.” 13 Aug. 2008. Web. 29 Oct. 2011. The Guardian.