Is it right to take the life of an innocent animal? Animals have been burnt, crushed, sliced, electrocuted, tortured with drugs, poisoned with toxic chemicals, and tormented in psychological testing. They do all these test just to make money or find if a chemical is safe for humans. Is this right?

Animal testing or vivisection ( as commonly called) promises to cure ills though animal experimentation. If this is stopped, that will be the end of human cures. Dr. Werner Hartinger, MD, surgeon in west Germany, claims that medical science s great advances could not have been discovered without experimenting on animals. The uninformed public usually agrees to this statement, simply because they rather see a animal die than a person.

The public usually don t see what goes on behind close doors. That is because product testers do not want them to see the animals suffer and die, including dogs, cats, rabbits, monkeys, birds, rats, mice, pigs, birds, fish, reptiles, etc. Each of these animals has the capacity to experience pain, and they can also escape it. However, inside the laboratory there is no escape. To intentionally inflict suffering and eventual death on an animal is a crude practice, one that could result in a criminal convection if done in public under the state s law. Yet because animal testing is done behind closed doors at the hands of scientists who promises cures in the future, the suffering continues.

As science became more advanced, the cruelty became more creative. How could scientist watch those animals be put through torture. A scientists, studying for head trauma strapped an animal in machinery to receive high impact blows to the head that left it with severe head damage. Another time, to examine severe burns to live tissue, pigs were restrained to prevent their escape and then burned alive with a flame thrower until the charred flesh could be removed from the live animals in large pieces. Yet another example, to demonstrate that the eye s protein levels are not different in sight deprived monkeys compared to normal ones, animal experimenters sewed the monkeys eyelids shut.

The point of these horrible animals experiences are cruel. There are thousands of discoveries made without product testing. Some are: discovery of penicillin, development of x-rays, discovery of the relationship between cholesterol and heart disease, which is the number one cause of death in America. Advancements in the human medicine which are based on the human model are the only true reliable and responsible research methods. They actually apply to humans rather than irresponsibly and dangerous extrapolating data across different species.

In 1998, there were approximately 10 to 56 million cats and dogs in the States. Of those 10.1 and 16.7 million dogs and cats are put to death in pounds and shelters. Approximately 17-22 million are researched each year. In total there has been 40% increase in the numbers of animals killed each year.

A lot of money goes toward research. However, this money could be spent on hospitals, hungry people, more schools because of over crowded class rooms. But instead each year they spend $18 million on animal experiments.

In my opinion I think animal testing is wrong. All animals are unique, including humans, and unnatural experimentation cannot reveal the secrets of human diseases nor the necessary requirements for a healthy human life. When data from an animal experiment has been applied to humans, the results have often been disastrous. Scientists must realize animals are another species and should not be subjected to the natural origins of human disease.