Monday, March 8, 2010

Is testing drugs on animals justified

It seems like ages since this topic was being brought up, some point out that humans are too selfish, and benefit themselves at the expense of poor animals, while some argue that testing life-saving drugs on animals is the wiser decision to make. Today I would just like to state my stand on this controversial issue.

I am personally more inclined towards supporting testing drugs and medicine on animals because it is really the better choice out of the two options. Firstly, let us ask ourselves, what is the best ending / result or final outcome we hope to get? Of course, we want an outcome that benefits the most number of people and brings the greatest good.

Although animal testing is cruel, I admit, but a sacrifice of one or two animals can possibly save hundreds or thousands of humans suffering under immense pain brought by "incurable illnesses". Treating a few animals kindly by sparing them the experiments is equals to treating thousands of poor patients cruelly. Therefore, I can conclude here that experiments on animals would bring benefit to the most number of people and thus, it is the most desirable outcome.

A second thing I do not understand is why some people who openly and vehemently object against holding experiments on animals, can peacefully eat their pork chop or beef steak in the luxuries of their home. Isn't it all the same, may I ask? Killing an animal is as cruel as holding experiments on them. The pain, and amount of human greed and selfishness involved in it is also comparable.

I will now elaborate on my third point. Maybe many have been fooled by irrational appeals to the human emotions of pity, but if we take a step back and look at the bigger picture, I am confident that drug-testing on animals is being merciful. Imagine the sheer number of people still suffering and living in the unbearable pain incurable illnesses has brought them if the life-saving cure we know today are not proven safe for treatment. Thousands would also be killed if our society fails to advance in medicine science. Killing thousands of humans would of course, be much much more cruel than killing one or two animals.

Furthermore, not all animals who receive experiments die! According to a Times Magazine survey, it is discovered that only 68% of the animals who receive drug-tests die. Again, we should compare these to the people in desperate wait for a cure, which safety can only be tested using animals.

Lastly, I would like to point out that the opposition's proposal of banning experiments on animals is totally not feasible. May I ask then, where do we test the safety of drugs and medicine? On humans? Or maybe they are proposing that we should not hold tests at all.

Just 2 years ago, I've heard a story of a man suffering from depression who was so frustrated at his medical condition that he rashly took unknown pills he found in his home, in hope that they can cure his depression. A week later, he found out that all his hair had drop off, and not only that, his arms and legs were full of rashes too. This example has clearly shown how taking drugs which safety is not proven can lead to serious consequences.

In conclusion, we should support experimentation on animals, because they are the only way we can test our drugs and achieve the greatest good and the greatest number of people that benefit fro the experiments. Thank you.

3 comments:

Nicholas said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I will not criticize on the rights and worngs of animal testing for reason you will know later at the end of this comment.

But rather I like to comment on your writing. Overall it is quite commendable except for two obvious inconsistencies I spotted during my reading.

1) You started the paragraph stating "you are personally more inclined.." but after the successive supporting paragraphs you suddenly become strongly supportive, as you concluded by saying " In conclusion we should support.." you see the change in your stance?Be careful the readers are very sensitive.

2) The story about the depressed man taking the wrong medication is not suitable. This is a case of carelessness or wrong prescription, nothing to do with anomal testing.

If you go to the wiki you will see very strong supporting facts suc as: In the 1880s, Louis Pasteur convincingly demonstrated the germ theory of medicine by inducing anthrax in sheep.In the 1890s, Ivan Pavlov famously used dogs to describe classical conditioning. Insulin was first isolated from dogs in 1922, and revolutionized the treatment of diabetes.On November 3, 1957, a Russian dog, Laika, became the first of many animals to orbit the earth. In the 1970s, antibiotic treatments and vaccines for leprosy were developed using armadillos, then given to humans. The ability of humans to change the genetics of animals took a large step forwards in 1974 when Rudolf Jaenisch was able to produce the first transgenic mammal, by integrating DNA from the SV40 virus into the genome of mice. This genetic research progressed rapidly and, in 1996, Dolly the sheep was born, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell.

It is just a click away if you do your research.

Ok so much for me and as I said overall it is a good attempt but be careful on your stand ( consistency from start to end) and story quote.

Time to enjoy my room service Serloin Steak ! ( see my stand from intro to end : P

Dream Maker

Nicholas said...

(sorry i forgot to write my name) Yes Jonah, I really agree with you on your point. Many of the people who endorse animal testing are doing so only because it is beneficial to them. Examples of this kind of people are bosses of big companies which market cosmetic products. They only do so because it is an easy way to test if the products are safe for human use. However, animal testing is a very outdated method as some products do not work on animals but are perfectly fine for human use and vice versa.

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