The testing of medicines and cosmetics on animals has been a controversial issue for ages, rallying celebrities and relying on graphic images to sway peoples’ opinions. The opponents cite animal cruelty as the main reason why testing should be banned, while the proponents point to the significant progress in modern medicine that has, at least in part, relied on animal testing.
There is no doubt that many of the practices in use in animal experiments are cruel. Dripping nail polish into a rabbit’s eye to establish the dose where the animal is blinded is not only cruel, it is also inexcusable as nail polish falls into the domain of cosmetics, not medicine. Testing of cosmetic products in this or similar fashions is most frequently completely unnecessary and doesn’t add any fundamental value for humanity. Hence, it is superfluous and ought to be avoided in my opinion.
However, there are valid arguments to be made for animal testing in medical research. Before a promising drug, vaccine or treatment is used on humans, it needs to be tested on animals in order to establish its safety. This practice has many a time proven not only effective, but has saved lives. Plenty of medications and treatments that make it to the animal testing phase never actually reach the market because they turn out to be either ineffective or dangerous. Animal testing for medical purposes is thus necessary to protect human lives and reduce harm.
In summary, it can be concluded that there are valid arguments both for and against animal experiments. A differentiated view weighs the gains against the costs. In the case of medical research, prevention of harm and eradication of diseases are valid arguments for continued animal testing. However, inflicting cruelty on living creatures just for the sake of beauty, as is arguably the case in cosmetics research, is not only unnecessary but also inexcusable.