Animal Testing/ Cruelty Essay

Damian Rarog

Animal Testing is a scientific experiment which animals are forced to take part in by humans. Animals are usually put through a lot of pain, suffering and distress, the animals that have things tested upon them either die from it or are killed at the end of the experiment. 

Animal Testing includes: • Injecting or force-feeding animals with things that could harm them or kill

them (Medication drugs to see the effects).• Exposing animals to nuclear radiation.• Removing animals’ organs or tissues to cause damage to see if the

animals can survive without them, this is usually done by surgery.• Forcing animals to inhale toxic gases.• Subjecting animals to frightening situations to create anxiety and

depression.• Applying cosmetics etc. to the animals to see if it does damage to them.

Animals Used: Animals that are defined as ‘animals’ in Europe by the European Legislation Governing Animal Experiments Regulations are only the vertebrate animals. Vertebrate animals are; mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and some invertebrates such as octopuses. In the USA rats, mice, fish, amphibians and birds are not defined as animals under the animal experiments regulations. This means that no permission is needed in order to experiment on them and they are not included in any statistics.

Animal Suffering: Most of the animal experiments that happen in Europe are reported to cause ‘moderate’ or ‘severe suffering’ to the animals. Researchers who carried out a research claim that in the UK in 2012, 62% of institutes that was allowed to carry out animal experiments by the government caused animals moderate or server suffering. The research also shown that over 70% of experiments carried out did not provide animals with any anesthetic, which caused extreme suffering for the animals. Animal testing usually take place in Laboratories, they are usually sterile, indoor environments in which the animals are forced to live in cages. They aren’t allowed to have freedom or control over their lives. Some animals are even separated from the rest of the animals and are forced to be on their own. Source: https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/why-we-do-it/what-animal-testing   Some companies that use animal testing to test if their products are safe to use are; Estee Lauder, Benefit, Lancôme, Avon, Mac, Almay, CoverGirl, Revlon, Maybelline, TRESemme, Victoria’s Secret and Clinque.

Effects on Animals: Each Year more than a 100 million animals such as rats, monkeys, mice, rabbits etc. are killed in laboratories for biology lessons, medical training, experiments, drug testing and cosmetics testing. Animals suffer from a lot of stress during these testing’s and experiments; they often harm themselves and other animals around them. The animals suffer and develop diseases, poisoning, burning skin, and causing brain damage, maiming, blinding and other painful procedures. The animals that are put under all this harm are usually left to die and are not helped to ease their suffering, they are locked away in cages and observed to see the effects that the drugs have on them.

Source: http://www.neavs.org/research/harm-suffering