Animal Testing

Dear Future President: Animal testing is a major, controversial issue in the United States. It is an issue that needs to be addressed, and then stopped. The government put the Animal Welfare Act in place in 1966 to prevent animal testing, but that doesn’t cover all animals being tested on. In fact, 95% of the animals who are used at test subjects are not covered by the act. There are other methods to test potential medicines and/or vaccines that don’t involve innocent animals. Animal testing is cruel and inhumane, according to procon.org. The international Humane society states that animals are put through force feeding, forced inhalation, food and water deprivation, prolonged periods of physical restraint, the infliction of burns and other wounds to study the healing process, the infliction of pain to study its effects and remedies, and killing by carbon dioxide asphyxiation, neck-breaking, decapitation, or other means. Imagine your own beloved pet being put through all of that. Also, animals suffer just as we do, so why put them through pain when they have no way to fight against it? Instead of testing on animals, there are other alternatives. For example, researchers can test cells in a petri dish. They can also use human test subjects and artificial human skin. Plus, humans and animals aren’t the same. Procon.org says that there are many anatomic, metabolic, and cellular differences between humans and animals. This makes them poor test subjects. This proves that animals shouldn’t be used as test subjects because they are much more different than we are. Actually, some tests that passed on animals proved to be harmful to humans. In the 1950’s, a sleeping pill called Thalidomide was tested on animals before it was released into the market. But, it was the cause of 10,000 babies to be born with severe deformities. Another drug, Vioxx, was used to treat arthritis. In testing it showed to have a “protective effect on the hearts of mice (procon.org).” Yet, the drug went on to cause more than 27,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths before being pulled from the market. This shows that just because a medicine is beneficial to animals, doesn’t mean it is beneficial to humans. By not using animal test subjects, we could have prevented all those deaths. There are many issues that need to be fixed in the United States, and you have the power to address them. Please do your best to reduce animal testing and find other alternatives. We can end animal cruelty in the country, one step at a time.