We can all agree that we want the best and healthiest products, but that doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want in order to reach those goals faster, and animal testing, in general, should be banned. There are numerous reasons for that, from the ethical to business and economic side of it, and we will today focus on the main ones.
There are better alternatives
Thanks to advancements in the tech field and science, animal testing is not something of a must anymore. Before, in order to test various things and products, especially in the medical field, animals whose type of organism is similar to humans were used for tests to check whether there are certain side effects and whether that something could be harmful to us. Many things have changed since several decades ago, and luckily, there are animal testing alternatives that are much more efficient and more humane ways to perform such tests.
Animal testing is simply a thing of the past, and we all need to support these changes so that animals used for tests would get more humane treatment. Overall, testing of cosmetics and chemicals on animals is no longer needed as most of those checkups can be performed on other organisms like bacteria or even tissue and skin cells that people can donate. Besides the fact that animals are no longer needed, by testing on real human tissue, we can even get a much better and more accurate result which will also fasten the entire process.
Shopping preferences
Source: nbcnews.com
Even from a business perspective, testing products on animals is bad. Namely, many studies have been done on this subject, and all of them came to the same conclusion-vast majority of people are more willing to buy products that were not tested on them. As for the precise number, close to 80% of tested shoppers prefer going with a different brand if they find out that animals were hurt, suffered, and treated badly for the products they use, regardless if we are talking about cosmetic products or medicine.
People’s awareness about animal rights and care about their well-being is on the rise, which is a great thing for the entire society, as it means our empathy is improving too, and empathy is the core of every relationship in every society. So, since animal testing can hurt businesses, there is no real reason to continue with this type of testing, and considering other factors, especially since doing so is no longer needed, everyone should switch to alternatives.
Ethical concerns
Source: britannica.com
Since animal testing started, the biggest concern was the ethical one. Namely, even if we were upon some great discovery, causing some animal harm and even death in order to do so is simply bad, from any point of view, especially moral and ethical. We need to ask ourselves who entitled us, humans, to experiment on other living beings, causing them pain and suffering.
The biggest argument, and the one often used against these claims, is regarding the conditions and the environment where these animals were set, which, by their claims, are ideal, and no suffering occurs. It’s needless to say that this type of statement is nonsense as every study, especially when the establishment where these tests were performed was inspected, clearly showed that living beings living under those conditions were suffering even before they were used for experiments and have lived in cruel conditions.
These test results are not always accurate
Although animal testing has been existing for years as the best substitution for doing it on humans, we need to mention that animal and human organisms might be similar but never the same, which can affect the results. Sometimes one drug might seem safe to use as a cure for a disease for animals, but it does not necessarily mean that it is a good cure for people.
Instead of reducing the symptoms and putting the disease under control, it can have the opposite effect and various side effects. The same is with different cosmetic products, as this type of testing does not prove it is safe for people’s usage, which is why it is important to switch to alternatives that are less cruel and can provide us with much more accurate results.
It violates their rights
Source: myethicalchoice.com
Just like people, animals have their rights too, and using them in various experiments violates their rights because they cannot decide whether they want to participate, as they are forced to and do not have a choice. Just like people, they have feelings, and the ability to think and experience pain, which means we must treat them with the same respect and avoid doing anything harmful to them, even if it is done because of a higher goal.
Many of them that are forced to be part of experiments suffer permanent damage, or even death, without the possibility of avoiding it, which means that people simply neglect their rights and make a decision instead of them which is not in their favor. Regarding that, these experiments can be considered animal abuse, which is strictly forbidden all over the globe, and can have severe legal consequences.
They are time-intensive
Besides all other reasons to switch to alternatives, we need to mention that animal testing is time-consuming and requires a lot of money. It requires a well-equipped laboratory with different devices and equipment, trained staff, and a lot of time to perform an experiment, which eventually requires a lot of money. Since there are various alternatives, choosing each of them can help the scientist save a lot of funds for their next project.
The bottom line
As you can see, there are many reasons to eliminate animal testing completely, or at least reduce it to a minimum, and hope that the next generations will eliminate it in the near future. It is cruel and inhuman, and people suffer a lot of physical and mental pain to provide results that are not always accurate when it comes to people.
Mahatma Gandhi once said: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” Because of that, we need to do everything we can to prove our greatness as humans.
