Global societal problem

Running head: ANIMAL TESTING 1

Updated June 2018

To Test or Not to Test: Ethics in Animal Testing

Student Name

GEN 499 General Education Capstone

Professor Millie Jones

November 16, 2050*

*This sample paper was adapted by the Writing Center from an original paper by a stu- dent. Used by permission.

ANIMAL TESTING 2

To Test or Not to Test: Ethics in Animal Testing

The subject of animal testing raises questions of necessity. Animal testing is

something that has been done for many years for several different reasons. It has been

used since the dawn of medicine by physicians and scientists. From biomedical research

to testing cosmetics, people claim that animal testing is necessary to benefit people in sa-

tiating their need for certain products as well as saving lives. There is an idea that animals

are the best way to find treatments and cures for people, but the treatment of animals is of

concern for some members of society. Society is feeling more and more that animals

have as much right to live freely in this world as humans do, and our obligation to see to

this makes animal testing a societal problem. Due to these concerns and others, there

have been several laws and acts formed to protect animals and minimize their suffering.

And with the advances of technology and other discoveries, the question of the necessity

of animal testing is becoming an issue for animal activists and lovers everywhere. The

future of medicine and biomedical research should not rely on animals for testing. In-

stead, we should use alternative testing methods and work toward making different life-

style choices. These solutions create the ethical outcome of ending the suffering of these

animals, which will have a positive influence on society and culture.

Problem

Animal testing has been deemed necessary for many reasons. Animal testing has

been done to determine the safety of household cleaning products, cosmetics including

The introduction should introduce your topic and share the societal problem that you see. At the end of the introduction, you should state your thesis, which should include your proposed solution to the problem. You may also state the positive ethical effects of your proposed solution.

The introduction ends with a the-

sis statement that includes the

student’s pro- posed solu- tion(s) to the societal prob- lem. She also

has included the positive ethical outcome of the

solution(s).

The introduction includes a very brief discussion of why this is a

societal problem.

{

} Use section headers for

each of the major sections of your paper.

Background

Here, the student is

introducing the topic of animal testing to the

reader.

This first body section of your paper should provide some background

information on your topic and discuss why this is a societal problem.

ANIMAL TESTING 3

skin care, shampoo and makeup, as well as biomedical research that provides medicine

and treatments for humans and pets alike. The BioIndustry Association (2002) argues that

“Animal research has made a vital contribution to the development of medicines that save

many lives every day” (Taylor, 2005, p. 7). In 1938 Congress passed the Food, Drug and

Cosmetic Act because of public demands after tragic incidents involving an untested

product (Why Do Companies Test Cosmetics or Other Products on Animals?, 2013).

There have been many arguments and evidence that shows the “good” that animal re-

search has done in regards to biomedical research. Studies involving dogs, rats, rabbits,

cats, chickens, pigs and sheep have all helped to contribute to the understanding of heart

disease. Drugs and vaccines that can be a possible solution to the devastating HIV/AIDS

virus are present due to the tests that have been performed on chickens, cats and monkeys

with a similar virus. Animals have been used as models for research for almost every dis-

ease that is known to man (Lee, 2015). If animal testing has contributed to creating drugs

for diseases as serious as cancer and HIV/AIDS, naturally animals are being used to find

cures and treatments for many other diseases and sicknesses.

Therefore, how could animal testing be wrong? Indeed, research has shown that

animal testing is helpful to progress in the field of medicine and biomedical research as

well as developing treatments that are yielding promising results. However, it comes with

a high cost. It comes with the cost of animals being subjected to tests that put them

through distress and can harm or kill them. Humans and animals are both sentient beings;

sentient meaning a person or being that has feelings or that can feel (Sentient, 2015). Re-

search shows that 37% percent of animals used for science suffer moderate to severe

stress and discomfort or severe pain (National Statistics, 2014). When it comes to using

This paragraph discusses the first reason that ani- mal testing is a societal problem and provides evi- dence to support this.

Reason #1

In this paragraph, the student has given the reader

some background information on the

topic.

ANIMAL TESTING 4

animals for science and experimentation, people tend to focus on the fact that non-human

animals are inferior to humans. Regardless of whether or not this is true it does not take

away from the fact that animals are sentient and that they experience pain and seek pleas-

ure. Animals and people react to pain in similar ways by screaming or trying to avoid the

source of the pain. “The American Veterinary Association defines animal pain as an un-

pleasant sensory and emotional experience perceived as arising from a specific region of

the body and associated with actual or potential tissue damage” (Dunnuck, n.d, para. 6).

Some of the animals used in biomedical research are not given any pain relief. They are

subjected to painful conditions and physical procedures that leave them in intense cold or

heat, or have limbs crushed and spinal cords damaged (Callanan, 2009). Pain and suffer-

ing are unique to every individual. Every person’s and even animal’s pain threshold is

different. However, evidence clearly shows the pain that is experienced by these animals

is experienced the same way that it is in humans.

Physical pain is unfortunately not the only problem that these animals undergo.

Psychological distress, fear, and sadness have been demonstrated amongst a wide variety

of species (Ferdowisiann & Beck, 2011). The use of chimpanzees and other primates for

animal testing has generated a lot of controversy because of their similarities to humans.

Ironically enough, it is also the reason that so many researchers have wanted to use them

as models. Indeed chimpanzees are highly emotional and intelligent creatures that are

evolutionarily and genetically similar to human beings. This is the argument of research-

ers that makes them great candidates for biomedical research. Philosophy Department

Chair Lori Gruen states, “They’re very similar to us in terms of their emotional lives and

This next para- graph discusses a second reason that animal testing is a societal prob- lem and again provides evidence to support this.

Reason #2

ANIMAL TESTING 5

their intellectual and physical and social experiences, and using them in painful, invasive

ways is to harm them; they don’t consent to it” (Lee, 2015, p. 3).

Besides the obvious reasons of the pain and suffering that these animals feel, there

is the question of the necessity for animal testing in regards to medical advances. Despite

the increasing number of technological alternatives to animal testing, over 100 million

animals are legally used for animal experiments each year for medical research alone. In

2007, England, Wales and Scotland used 3.1 million animals for genetic and biomedical

experimentation (Callanan, 2009). In October of 2006 attendees of the opening day of the

Joint World Congress for Stroke in Cape Town, South Africa were devastated at the fail-

ure of a drug that was intended for ischemic stroke. The drug, NXY-059, had reached

phase III of clinical trials and failed to do what the animals used for the research had

promised. The drug was supposed to “stop the cascade of the necrosis in the event of a

stroke, and protect the remaining viable brain cells” (Gawrylewski, 2007, para. #). Direc-

tor of Michigan Alzheimer’s Diseases Research Center in the Department of Neurology

at the University of Michigan Sid Gilman says that one of the major faults in the trials for

NXY-059 was its use of animal models (Gawrylewski, 2007). Besides the millions of

dollars wasted, there was a waste of life and unnecessary use of animals for painful re-

search. This is one of many examples of disappointing let-downs of drugs that were test-

ed on animals that did not work.

Solution

Considering the horrific psychological and physical pain that animals have to go

through in the midst of testing for biomedical research, alternative testing methods are in

Reason #3 This paragraph discusses a third reason that ani- mal testing is a problem.

Evidence is used to support this.

Solution #1

This next section of your paper is where you will discuss your proposed solu- tion(s) to the problem.

ANIMAL TESTING 6

order. According to Callanan (2009), there has been much successful research and many

tests done to help find treatments for diseases and sicknesses that have plagued humans

and did not involve animal testing. Many scientists have started and are continuing to de-

velop alternate ways to test and find treatments for people because they do not want to

harm animals. Some of these new developments include cell cultures, analytical technol-

ogy, micro-organisms, computer models, population research, and volunteer studies. Cell

cultures have contributed to the understanding of cancer, Parkinson’s, and HIV/AIDS.

Analytical technology uses equipment that selects anti-cancer and anti-malaria drugs be-

cause of the reaction it produces with DNA. Computer models are allowing for virtual

experiments to be conducted (Callanan, 2009). Tissue engineering is also an alternative to

animal testing. It uses a 3-D skin equivalent that is physiologically comparable to skin. It

investigates wound healing melanoma research, infection biology, analysis of infection,

invasion of different pathological microorganisms and immunological, histological, and

molecular-biological analysis. This study has been inspired by economical and ethical

incentive (Mertsching et al, 2008). Animals are subjects for painful and uncomfortable

vaccine success for human diseases. However, some researchers have begun to rely only

on human data, cells and tissue. As far as vaccine development goes, researchers have set

up a surrogate in-vitro human immune system to help predict an individual’s immune re-

sponse to certain drugs and vaccines. This test has been compared with data from animal

experimentation and has proven to produce more accurate pre-clinical data (Ferdowsian

& Beck, 2011). This evidence shows that alternative ways to test treatments are in fact

possible and even better, making testing on animals more of a choice than a necessity.

In this paragraph, the student dis- cusses her first solution. You can see that she used several pieces of evi- dence to support her argument that this solution is viable.