Analysis of Ethical Considerations in Animal Experimentation Research

This report delves into the ethical considerations surrounding animal experimentation in medical research, exploring the controversies and arguments for and against its use. The report highlights the significant number of animals used in biomedical research annually and the potential psychological and physical harms inflicted upon them. It references studies and research papers that discuss the need for alternative procedures and the ethical flaws inherent in animal testing, focusing on the lack of moral value placed on animal lives. The report aims to address the ethical dilemmas and to restore public confidence in scientific research by examining the complex issues surrounding animal experimentation and its impact on the scientific community and society.

Running head: ETHICS OF ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION IN MEDICAL RESEARCH
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Ethics of Animal Experimentation in Medical Research
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Ethics of Animal Experimentation in Medical Research

ETHICS OF ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION IN MEDICAL RESEARCH
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Animal experimentation or animal testing is defined as the use of animals in scientific
research to understand diseases that afflict humans. Animals may be used in surgical operations
or for testing new drugs before they are used on human beings. Animal experimentation may
seem cruel, inhumane, and unethical from moral point of view, but proponents of animal testing
argue that animals should be used in biomedical testing for betterment of human life. However,
the controversy that exists between the proponents and opponents of animal experimentation has
created a need for studying this topic.
Millions of animals are killed each year to meet the demand of biomedical industry in
research. According to Khoo (2018), opponents of animal testing have tabled evidence that
create a need to use alternative procedures in place of animals in experimentations. The
environments where animals are kept as they await to be killed or to be tortured in laboratories
causes a significant psychological and physical harm. A harm-benefit and cost-benefit analysis
by Mayir et al. (2016) found that even though the benefits of animal testing outweigh harms,
there is in sufficient justifications to warrant the use of animals in experiments. Akhtar (2015)
found significant flaws in use of animal experimentation that waste numbers of animals in
laboratories. This is because animals are only “used” and there is no moral value placed on their
life. The purpose of this research is, therefore, to rid the controversies surrounding animal
research and testing and restore public confidence in scientific research.

ETHICS OF ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION IN MEDICAL RESEARCH
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References
Akhtar A. (2015). The flaws and human harms of animal experimentation. Cambridge quarterly
of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees,
24(4), 407–419. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180115000079
Khoo S. Y. (2018). Justifiability and animal research in health: can democratisation help resolve
difficulties?. Animals: An Open Access Journal from MDPI, 8(2), 28.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani8020028
Mayir, B., Dogan, U., Bilecik, T., Yardımcı, E. C., Çakır, T., Aslaner, A., Mayir, Y. A., &
Oruç, M. T. (2016). Why scientists perform animal experiments, scientific or personal
aim?. Ulusal Cerrahi Dergisi, 32(4), 256–260. https://doi.org/10.5152/UCD.2016.3196