The Ethics of Animal Testing: A Critical Analysis Essay

This essay critically examines the ethical considerations of animal testing, arguing against its practice due to the violation of animal rights and the infliction of significant pain and suffering. It highlights the moral imperative to treat animals with respect, drawing parallels to human rights and dignity. The essay focuses on the detrimental impacts of the Draize and LD50 tests, which cause immense pain and can lead to death, while questioning the justification of animal sacrifice for human benefit. It also explores the contradictory view that animal research benefits animals. The essay concludes that animal testing should be eliminated in favor of alternative methods that do not compromise animal welfare.

Running head: STOP ANIMAL TESTING
STOP ANIMAL TESTING
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

Thesis Statement
The thesis statement of the essay is “animals should not be used in research or to test the safety
of products.”
Draft Outline
The introductory part of the research paper wills animal rights are severely violated while they
undergo any research procedures.
The main argument of the paper will focus on the amount of pain which experimental animals
are subjective to only to benefit the interests of humans. Furthermore, the paper will highlight the
way Draize LD50 test cause severe harm and often death to animals.
The paper will further shed light on a contradictory statement noting that animals are sacrificed
to amplify the safety level of products made for human use and consumption purposes.
Lastly, it will conclude by noting that animal testing should be eliminated as it violates animal
rights and further results to cause massive pain and suffering to the experimental animals
Introduction
Several people demonstrate various types of emotions towards animals, while many
individuals consider animals as key companions, whereas some perceive animals as mere means
of advancing medical techniques or progressing experimental research. Nevertheless individuals
view animals and the fact remains that animals are being highly exploited by research facilities
and other research organisations across the world. Using animals for research purposes and to
test the safety of products have been a subject of heated argument for decades. According to

Akhtar (2015) although humans typically advantage from successful animal research, the amount
of pain and suffer as well as death of animals do not show parity with the possible human
benefits produced through animal testing.
Discussion
Animal Testing Violates Animals’ Moral Right
Firstly, animal rights have been severely violated when they are used in research
procedures. According to Singh et al. (2016), animals have a fundamental moral right of
receiving respectful treatment. Such an inherent value is often disregarded when animals are
reduced to being near tools of mechanism in a scientific experiment. Carbone and Austin (2016)
have observed several similarities between animals and human beings particularly the way they
develop emotions perceived their surroundings, show specific behavioral patterns and experience
sufferings and pain. As a result, animals should be treated with similar level of dignity and
respect similar to the treatment which human beings tend to receive.
However Ziesche and Yampolskiy (2019) have claimed that regardless of the
fundamental ethical right, animal rights and authorities are highly violated and exploited by
engaging them into research activities. At this juncture, Singh et al. (2016) have shed light to be
events where animals are subjected to experimental tests which are severely painful and are
likely to cause permanent damage or death and most importantly they are never given the option
of not participating in the experiment. Drawing relevance to these facts, Carbone and Austin
(2016) have noted that animal experimentation is morally immoral regardless to the degree to
which human beings are likely to achieve from the experiments as the animals elementary right
has been infringed. Animals do not willingly sacrifice themselves for the advancement of human

welfare, interests as well as advanced technology. According to Akhtar (2015), their decisions
are principally made for them because of their importance of being vocal of their own
preferences and choices. However Singh et al. (2016) have noted that when humans involved in
a decision-making procedure regarding the fate of animals in research environments, the moral
rights and authorities of animals are taken away from them without any significant criterion of
animal welfare of the quality of their lives. As a result, animal experimentation should be
stopped because of its severe violation of the rights of animals.
The impact of Draize and LD50 tests on the lives of animals
Furthermore, the amount of pain and suffering which experimental animals are subject to,
do not comprise any significant value or benefits to the humans. Saganuwan (2017) has defined
the extent of animal suffering and pain as an unpleasant sensory as well as emotional experience
perceived as emerging from a particular part of the body and related to actual or potential tissue
damage. Research conducted by Singh et al. (2016) has revealed that animals develop emotions
of severe pain in several identical ways like human beings. Moreover as per Carbone and Austin
(2016), the type of reactions for response towards pain has been virtually to both animals as well
as human beings. According to Saganuwan (2017) when animals are used as objects for product
toxicity testing laboratory investigation they are subjected to painful and typically detrimental
research experiments. Two of the most renowned toxicity research experiments namely the
Draize test and the LD50 test are identified as experimental tests which cause immense pain and
suffering while inflicting upon experimental animals.
Reports of Singh et al. (2016) have revealed that the Draize test primary constitutes of a
substance which is being tested and placed in the eyes of the animals generally rabbit which

consequently undergoes stringent scrutinization for damage to the cornea along with other tissues
around the area of the eyes. Such a test cause immense pain to the animals and further results to
the loss of eye vision or death as end results. However, Saganuwan (2017) has mentioned that
the Draize test has received rigorous criticism for being highly unreliable and unnecessary waste
of animal life. However on the other side, the LD50 test typically uses in order to experiment the
amount of dosage of a particular substance which is essential to cause death in around 50% of
the animal subjects within a particular amount of period. Moreover reports of Carbone and
Austin (2016) have mentioned that in order to execute such an experimental test several
researchers tends to tie animals with tubes which pump huge amounts of the test product into the
stomach of the animals until it causes death. Such a test has been considered to be immensely
detrimental to the lives of animals. Nevertheless recent researchers have stated that the use of
these two experimental tests in order to examine product toxicity has declined over the past few
years even though these tests have not been eliminated as a whole (Singh et al., 2016). As a
consequence, because animals are highly subjected to organising pain suffering as well as death
when they are used in laboratory as well as cosmetics research testing animal research must be
stopped in order to prevent greater level of waste of animal life.
Contradictory View stating Animal Research Experiments benefit animals
Meanwhile on the other hand, several individuals are of the perception that animal
research experiments fail to exhibit great justifications as animals are sacrificed in order to
increase the safety level of products made for human use and consumption purposes (Carbone &
Austin, 2016). However the issue regarding such an explanation relies on the fact that animals’
security, welfare and their quality of life are not taken into utmost consideration. Moreover Singh
et al. (2016) have claimed that experimental animals are virtually tortured to death and all of

these experiments are performed with the increase nation of human welfare regardless of any
thoughts for justifications to the way animals are treated. Furthermore, Akhtar (2015) has drawn
relevance to the evidences of animals being beneficial to these testing. At this point of discussion
of those have claimed that animals have the propensity to position themselves on the
advantageous position during experimental testing, However the value which humans place on
the quality of their lives established by their perceived value to human beings. In addition to this
Carbone and Austin (2016) have claimed that improving the position of human beings should not
be essential grounds for justifying the torture and detrimental attitude towards animals in any
experimental testing. Additionally it has been stated that the value which humans change to site
on their own life should be extended to the lives of animals as well.
Conclusion
Hence to conclude, the lives of animals should be considered with utmost dignity as they
tend to compromise an inherent right to be treated with equitable respect and dignity like human
beings. Thus animal testing should be immediately eradicated as it tends to violate animal rights
and further results to cause immense pain and suffering to the experimental animals along with
other means of testing product toxicity which are available in recent days.

References
Akhtar, A. (2015). The flaws and human harms of animal experimentation. Cambridge
Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 24(4), 407-419.
Carbone, L., & Austin, J. (2016). Pain and laboratory animals: publication practices for better
data reproducibility and better animal welfare. PloS one, 11(5), e0155001.
Saganuwan, S. A. (2017). Toxicity studies of drugs and chemicals in animals: an
overview. Bulgarian Journal of Veterinary Medicine, 20(4).
Singh, V. P., Pratap, K., Sinha, J., Desiraju, K., Bahal, D., & Kukreti, R. (2016). Critical
evaluation of challenges and future use of animals in experimentation for biomedical
research.