Experimentation on animals has been a topic of controversy since it was introduced. Some people argue that it is a step towards progression of scienctific discoveries while others believe that the animals have a right to live and not be experimented on. This essay will discuss if the experimentation of animals is justified and explore various other alternatives to the issue.
I believe that the experimentation on animals can be justified as it is one of the main reason for medical advancements. Discovery of life-saving drugs can be credited to animal experimentation. One example of this is the discovery of dengue vaccines where they experimented on rats to observe the effects of the vaccine. However, during these experiments many rats succumbed to the effects of the vaccine and it led to more refinement in the vaccine which helped to make the vaccine successful and eligible for human usage. Animal research also acts as a safety net for human life. The main reason for this is the testing stages each drug goes through. No vaccine or drug is successfully engineered in the first attempt, it takes atleast 15-30 attempts to make a successful drug. If these drugs were tested on humans there is a chance that it can pose a danger to the human’s life.
One alternative to animal experimentation would be to create a program where human volunteers can enroll for medical experimentation and can be paid for their time. This would help to solve the problem of animals being harmed in the name of experimentation as the effects of a drug can be directly tested on the human. Another alternative would be to simulate the effect of any medicine using software. This would help as it does not hurt any living organism for testing.
Hence i belive that animal experimentation is a completely justifyable act as it helps for the betterment of the scientific advancements.