It sounds cruel if we take into consideration only the part of research involving keeping animals in cages and doing experiments on them without their consent. Surely, the positive outcomes of such research in most cases outnumber the disadvantages (Brody, 2012). Still, we should keep in mind that when we talk about benefits, we mean people, and when we talk about adverse impact, we mean animals. Such position has always made me wonder whether animal research can be justified, and I used to be an opponent to this kind of experiments.
Some animal research is quite fair when we think about the positive outcomes. If scientists approach the question of choosing the tests carefully and do only the ones which are really necessary, they can eliminate the dangerous impact on animals. Ethical treatment of animals will calm down the animal rights activists whose methods sometimes are even more cruel than the scientists’ experiments (Brody, 2012).
Taking into consideration the pros and cons of animal testing, it can be concluded that there are more advantages than disadvantages. Therefore, I think that animal research cannot be abolished altogether, as it brings a lot of benefits for people and animals. To achieve the most positive outcomes both for humans and animals, scientists need to choose the tests thoroughly and be careful not to do any unnecessary harm to the animals. Just because they cannot defend themselves, it does not mean that animals should suffer for no reason. Only if their suffering is entirely justified, research may be performed.
References
Brody, B. A. (2012). Defending animal research: An international perspective. In J. R. Garrett (Ed.), The ethics of animal research: Exploring the controversy (pp. 53-66). Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
Kouwenhoven, P. S. C., Raijmakers, N. J. H., van Delden, J. J. M., Rietjens, J. A. C., Schermer, M. H. N., van Thiel, G. J. M. W.,… van der Heide, A. (2012). Opinions of health care professionals and the public after eight years of euthanasia legislation in the Netherlands: A mixed methods approach. Palliative Medicine, 27(3), 273-280.
Steck, N., Egger, M., Maessen, M., Reisch, T., & Zwahlen, M. (2013). Euthanasia and assisted suicide in selected European countries and US states: Systematic literature review. Medical Care, 51(10), 938-944.