Some people think that testing drugs on live animals before using them in humans is unethical and cruel. Some people think it is necessary for people health and growth. This discussion has been one of the major topics in recent years. We should look deep to each perspective. Is it ethical and cruel? Or It is necessary?
They say animal testing should be banned because it violates lots of animals rights, it causes pain and suffering to the animals in the experiment. Humans are also animals. So we should use some empathy, they say. It is expansive to do an experiment. You need to use product and animal and if animal dies you have to get a new one in order to do a new experiment. In other word we can say it is not reproducible. Also human anatomy and other animal anatomy is not same. So it might not deflect the experiment. Also animal testing is not always used by health and pharmaceutical purposes. People use animals for testing in beauty and fragrances as well. Not all animals that used in experiments protected by US law. In fact Only 5% of animals used in experiments are protected by US law. There are laws in order to protect the animals called Animal Welfare Act but the law only offers standards for housing, food and exercise.
On the other hand animal testing contributes to life-saving cures and treatments. Vaccines and drugs required for the treatment of many diseases from past to present are first tried on guinea pigs such as mice, rabbits, hamsters. Animal testing is a very important thing to ensure that vaccines are safe. It is not ethical although ethical considerations prevent the use of human subjects. That is also a reason to use the animals. Test animals are not actual natural animals. They are born to this purpose. If we ban testing drugs on live animals than animals will not be born. Also these animals have short life. In order to ensure the safety of the drugs, cosmetics and health care products we should use animals.
To sum up testing drugs on live animals is cruel but we should do it to improve. I do not think we should use animals in beauty and cosmetics but I do think we should use in health. If we find another alternative that does not violates animals rights and cause pain than we shall use it. But since there is not we should keep doing it to improve.