Animal testing has been a well debated topic for many years. More than 100 million animals are killed in U.S laboratories during animal experimentation each year. The creatures are usually treated very poorly by the scientists conducting the experiments and have to endure many inhumane procedures like inhaling toxic fumes, or are immobilized in restraint devices for long periods of time. Some have holes drilled into their skulls, and other shave their skinned burned off or their spinal cords crushed, which is the cause of many of these innocent deaths. All of these painful, inhumane procedures have been accepted as it is under the name of science. These horrible experiments need to come to an end as soon as possible.

These experiments on animals are used by medical researchers to get a better understanding of body reactions in humans and animals. Popular companies that test on animals include Maybelline, Covergirl, MAC, Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Revlon, Dove and many more. (Peta) Animal experimentation is also used to study causes and effects of illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes, and birth defects. *(Burrel) Many other experiments led by scientists are curiosity-driven only and do not have a useful outcome. Although the number of animals used for all of these procedures is incredibly high, the accuracy rate is very low, which means many animal lives are killed for no reason and can put any human that uses the product that has been inaccurately tested on animal’s health at risk.

Animal testing is a terrifying and cruel process performed on innocent creatures. Experimentation on animals has been used in laboratories, medical training, chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing. Animals spend their entire lives locked in cages, terrified for the next experiment to begin. Most of the animals that are tested on are unanesthetized, and wounds inflicted by chemicals are not treated. (Peta) Not only do these animals go through tremendous amounts of physical pain, the stress causes them to begin strange behavior like biting at their own skin, and pulling out their own hair. They jump whenever they hear a sound or if a person walks by, in fear that they will be chosen next. (Akhtar) Millions of mice, rats, rabbits, cats, dogs, and other animals are forced to endure these procedures until they either die or are no longer responsive.

Not only is animal experimentation cruel, it is a also very inaccurate and has a high failure rate. Because of the major differences between the human body and animal’s body, reactions towards a certain chemical or product can be completely different. (Murnaghan) For example, mice and rats only live about three years, which is about 70 years less than the amount of time it takes a human to develop certain diseases. (Burrel) Approximately 92% of experimental drugs that were successfully tested on animals fail in human clinical trials because they are too dangerous or don’t work. (Peta) Also, because the animals kept in laboratories are under a lot of stress, they may react to the drugs the same way as if they were in a natural habitat. (Akhtar) Therefore, many of these animals end up dying in vain without any human gain.

Animal testing is also very expensive. The animals used must be fed, housed, cared for, and treated with drugs or experimental substances. There are companies who breed animals specifically for experimentation, which is where laboratories purchase them from . Animals used for health sciences are paid by taxes from citizens. USA spends approximately 16 billion dollars annually on animal testing, which is criticized to be a huge waste and mismanagement of money from taxpayers. (Peta) Most of this money can be cut using alternative and more effective methods.

The laws in the US do not require the use of alternative methods, even if they are available. (Shirodka) Alternative methods like computer modelling, adult stem cells, research with human volunteers, and cellular model chips are much more useful and cheaper than testing on animals. For example, cellular models, which are created based on human tissues, almost perfectly represents certain human organs and cells. When a drug is injected into the chip, the response is almost perfectly accurate to human cells. The chip is created to represent real, live tissue with various cell types, arranged as in a human. They can be used to perform experiments and test substances without killing animal life. (Burrell) These options offered are much cheaper and can produce more useful and accurate results, which not only ensures human safety, but saves many innocent animal lives.

Therefore, animal experimentation is a costly, ineffective, and cruel procedure that can easily be replaced by much more effective ways to test drugs and chemicals. Although animal testing is illegal in Canada, it is still a major issue in America and other parts of the world. Animals are dying in laboratories all around the world every second and the research provided from these experiments are mostly useless. I believe that the benefits do not outweigh the disadvantages, and animal testing should be stopped immediately. The government has wasted enough tax dollars and animal lives on research that has gone to waste, when better methods were available.