In contemporary society, experimenting drugs on animals first-hand has always been a contentious practice. While some maintain that this practice is inhumane and unnecessary, others reject this notion, believing that animal testing plays a pivotal role in the development of medicines. Both perspectives possess valid arguments.
On the one hand, naysayers of animal testing argue that this practice is morally unjustifiable and ineffective. Indeed, it is factual that animals feel emotions and pains just fine, thus inflicting trauma on them can be considered unethical. From the animal’s standpoint, researchers’ act of consistently carrying out vivisection to facilitate studies can be comparable to mass homicide. In addition, human scientists oftentimes induce artificial disease symptoms in their test subjects, in order to recreate that of humans. Not only does this subject animals to agonizing suffering, but also belittles the complexity of such ailments. In fact, a recent study showed that more than half of drug tests done on animals are inaccurate. Based on this information, criticizers of this practice argue that humans should instead turn to alternative cure development methods, like computer simulation or constructed skins.
On the other hand, proponents of this practice hold the view that animal testing is a necessary evil. Undeniably, medical treatments provided to humans must undergo extensive trials to ensure their harmlessness and effectiveness. Concomitantly, animals have significantly more potent regeneration and reproduction abilities. As a result, they act as perfect testers, with characteristics bearing much resemblance to that of humans. The outcomes of such experiments enable experts to anticipate the effects the same drug would likely have on humans, which justifies the shortcomings of this practice.
Personally, while the welfare of animals is of colossal importance, the benefits of animal testing in medical research overshadow the immorality of this practice. Ultimately, scientists should use other disparate medicine development methods to their maximum potential so as to mitigate the repercussions of this medical necessity.