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An Ethical Dilemma An ethical dilemma is when somebody is faced with a situation that causes them to question how they should react and if they believe that their decision is right or wrong. In life, people are faced with ethical dilemmas on a daily basis. Many times, the situation can be so complex that people want to do the right thing, but do not always follow their instinct. It can be common to go along with what is unethical due to feelings of fear from the consequences that may arise. This can happen anywhere and at anytime. Ethical dilemmas are constantly arising especially with animal experimentation. Animal experimentation is a very popular and widely used method to develop new medicines and to test the safety of products. These experiments are conducted whether they cause pain to the animal or not. In addition to causing the animal pain, these experiments can greatly diminish their quality of life. Animal experimenters are to be made aware of this ethical problem, and are instructed to make the process as humane as possible. There are two opposing sides to this ethical dilemma. The first side would be that conducting these experiments can benefit human life. The second side argues that it causes suffering to animals, the benefits to human beings are not proven, and alternative testing could always be provided. Animal rights extremists believe that those that experiment on animals have zero moral standing. However, the argument is whether conducting these experiments is morally right or wrong. The BBC (2014) states, “The lack of ethical self-examination is common and generally involves the denial or avoidance of animal suffering, resulting in the dehumanization of researchers and the ethical degradation of their research subjects” (BBC, 2014).

Ruggiero (2011) states that according to Kant, the basis of moral action is duty. People's goodwill is what

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