Introduction
Since humans and animals have similar biology, animals are often used to provide experimental studies and understand how diseases impact them or how drugs can help, but ethics and legal issues cause public controversy.
Definition
Animal testing, also known as animal research, uses experiments to understand the factors that impact the behaviors in a biological system. Laboratory animals include mice, zebrafishes, primates, and many other species. The main goal of using animals in research is to improve the understanding of biology and create new treatments that would be safe for humans.
Importance
Animals are biologically similar to humans, which makes them a perfect object for studying the course of diseases and various treatment options. For example, vaccines, antibiotics, HIV treatment, and transplantation were developed based on animal research (Garner, 2016). The role of animals is vital since they serve as the models for drug creation and testing. Without animal research, it would be impossible to minimize such diseases as measles, poliomyelitis, and other infections. Today, animal research provides hope for people, who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and asthma.
Controversy
On the one hand, those who want to prohibit animal research claim that animals’ rights are violated, they suffer, and it is better to use computers and technology. They also insist that human tissues should be used in clinical settings, but many diseases can only be explored in a living body (Meigs et al., 2018). On the other hand, animal testing significantly contributed to health improvement as people can successfully manage a variety of conditions and live longer. In addition, it ensures a high quality and safety of drugs, which means that many side effects are addressed to make treatment more effective.
Thesis Statement
Although animal research is considered unethical, painful, and harmful for the objects of experiments, animals should be used for research to understand diseases and develop effective drugs to improve public health.
References
Garner, R. (2016). Animal rights: The changing debate. Springer.
Meigs, L., Smirnova, L., Rovida, C., Leist, M., & Hartung, T. (2018). Animal testing and its alternatives: the most important omics is economics. Alternatives to Animal Experimentation: ALTEX, 35(3), 275-305.