Can animal experimentation be justified - Research Paper Example

It can be used as well to promote interests and welfare of animals such as breakthroughs in veterinary practice. The experiment done on dogs led to the treatment of most canine diseases such as diabetes and heart irregularities (Paul, 6). The pros also argued that it is immoral to risk the life of humans for medical breakthrough when animals can be used instead. Let us take the example of Pondimin and Redux diet drugs. If the federal law would not require testing on animals before distribution on humans, disasters such as increase incidence of heart-valve defects might be experienced by millions of humans (Paul, 5).

On the other hand, cons strongly believe that just like humans, animals have the right to be treated as beings and be protected against experimentation as in the experimentation infecting monkeys with AIDS. Animals should never be harmed just for potential gain in humanity. Unlike human, animals aren’t able to give their consent so it is not acceptable to test medicines on them even if it will be used for other animals including the case of cows and sheep being infected with tuberculosis just to find the pathogenesis of the disease (Paul, 4).

The cons believe that what is more immoral is to experiment animals and later on, found out that it is not a reliable guide to human reactions. Humans treated animals as a disposable and worthless biological object. The most popular examples are the experiments done on mice and rodents and later on rejected for they are not equally reliable to the human physiology. Definition of Animal Experimentation Animal experimentation is defined as “the use of live animals in research in the biological, psychological, and medical technological sciences, the state in which animals are used in the production of biological extracts and the testing of consumer products, drugs and food through partial or complete dissection of live animals for research purposes” (Monamy, 6).

Practices Involved in Animal Experimentation There are practices that are being used in animal experimentation going back 2,000 years ago. In Egypt, animals were used to study body functions. Aristotle learned the structure and development of animals by dissection. Galen, a Romanian, used certain animals to prove that veins do not carry air but blood. William Harvey used animals in 1622 to describe the blood circulation in 1622. It was in 1846 when animals were used to determine the effects of anesthesia and in 1878 to show the relationship between bacteria and disease.

During the 20th century, advances made in medicine, cure of infectious diseases and immunization, and surgical procedures became possible because of animal experimentation. In the practice of animal experimentation, several animals need to be sacrificed in achieving scientific goal. To reduce the rate of polio, hundreds of primates were sacrificed to develop polio vaccine. Monkeys were used to test HIV vaccines. Recently, a research in the University of Massachusetts have taken immature cells from spinal cord of adult rats and made them grow and implanted in paralyzed rats.

Soon, these rats were able to move, stand and walk. This practice of tissue engineering in animal experimentation has given hope to several people who suffer from spinal cord injury (MacKinnon, 208). Other practices involve in animal experimentation used transgenic animals as drug- producing machines. This