Dear Future President,

Each year more than 25 million animals are used for scientific research in the U.S. In the UK there have been 2.7 million since 1995. That's 27.7 million lives murdered in total.(Ericson) 90 percent of those 27.7 million animals are mice, and John Ericson says that the mice are “genetically engineered to die in a very particular way.” Although testing on animals seems to be a necessary step to ensuring public safety, it is cruel and should be stopped.

8 percent, only 8 percent of vaccinations deemed as ok during animal testing, ever have a chance of being approved for humans. (Ericson) Animals obviously don't have the ability to stand up for themselves. So that makes it ok to use them for drugs that just ¨might¨ work? Wrong, because animal lives matter and using them for scientific purposes is devastating. What these researchers are really doing when they say testing is murdering animals in cruel ways.

Some people might ask ¨what would happen if people stopped animal testing?¨ Some might say that a lot of people would get sick and in some cases even die. ¨Machines will never be able to do everything a rat can.¨ (Ericson) The amount of research being done to help stop animal testing is an even bigger disappointment than the amount of animals being killed. Right now there could be a way to test drugs and vaccinations without using animals but no one cares enough to help discover it.

Scientists have thought of an invention so you don't have to use animals, ¨instead of running the drug through an animal liver, a chemist can now force the drug to react with the chemosynthetic liver.¨(Ericson) This new breakthrough is taking developed liver cells called “chemosynthetic liver” and testing the drug on that instead of harmless animals. This process is also said to have clearer results than if it was tested on an animal. So instead of testing on animals, scientists should be doing more research on how to stop the testing.

In the end it doesn't matter how many drugs or vaccinations are being produced if animals are having toxins injected into their bodies every single day. Animal testing is a selfish act towards a species that does not know the concept of being selfish. Although animal testing seems to be a necessary step to ensuring public safety, it is cruel and should be stopped.

Sincerely,

Rebekah N.

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)

Ericson, John. "The Price of Killing Off Animal Testing." Newsweek, 21 Feb. 2014, p. 1. Student Edition, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)

"The fewer the better: we can never stop all animal testing, but there are other things we can do." New Scientist, 7 Aug. 2004, p. 3. Student Edition, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)

Ericson, John. "Breakthroughs Might Mean the End of Animal Testing." Newsweek, 28 Mar. 2014, p. 1. Student Edition, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?