Alex Kleemeier
Erica Jones
ENG 105
11-22-15
Stop Animal Testing in the Medical Field

Lions and tiger and bears oh my. More like, monkeys and dogs and mice oh no. How does being poked, probed, opened up, burned, shocked and tortured all for the advancement of the medical field sound? Now think about all those things being done, knowing there is another way, which causes no agony, distress or discomfort to any living creature. Animal testing is a process or “tradition” that has been around for many, many years. The problem with this tradition in particular is that although it causes much pain to innocent animals and can be avoided, many choose to still use this practice today. Animals have been used as tools in biomedical research as early on as the days when Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle, were experimenting for their next scientific breakthrough. Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), an Arab physician in twelfth century Moorish Spain, introduced animal testing as an experimental method for testing surgical procedures before applying them to human patients (Hajar 2011). Many research associations claim that animal testing has been used in almost every single medical breakthrough within the last one hundred years. Laws have been passed in several countries to make this practice more “humane.” In reality, these laws are the bare minimum and do not truly make a difference for the animals that are being used for experimentations. Animal testing in the medical field needs to dissolve and ultimately come to an end because, it is cruel and inhumane, the results are not beneficial or accurate due to the differences amongst humans and animals and finally because there are many alternatives that can be used instead of animal testing.
Animal testing is a cruel and inhumane practice that causes pain to those animals that are forced to participate. There is much research done,