Animal Testing

 Imagine being subjected to chemicals without your permission. Imagine being tied up, caged and have unknown things inserted in you. You can scream all you want, no one is going to hear you and those who can, simply don’t care. 

It is all for science after all. The tests conducted today, will help generations tomorrow. Science is about advancement after all. 

Yes, science has always been the answer to all the problems we face. If you are sick, guess what? Science has the answer in the form of medicines and treatment procedures. Do you want to connect with someone who lives far away? Science has made it possible to keep in touch with them. The food that we eat, science is behind that as well. Everything around is easier and accessible to us thanks to science. 

But is science also the reason why such cruelty is performed on helpless animals?

Animal Testing has been conducted for centuries as the easiest method to find solutions and treatments to diseases. And then it was used primarily to test cosmetics. After all, how confident will we be using a shampoo or a lipstick or hand cream without knowing that it was tested beforehand and we aren’t just slathering harmful chemicals on ourselves. 

These items simply have to be tested or the risk to humans would be greater and cause, in extreme cases, death. 

So in a way, most of us became complacent with the fact that other living things were being tested on rather than us. Ignorance was bliss. It was better not knowing what torture animals were being subjected to and become racked with guilt. 

But then there are others, who care deeply about animals and do think it is important to know if the products they are using have been tested on animals. 

Many countries have now banned animal testing, yet this cruel process still continues especially in large markets which have laws that state that any product entering their country must be tested on animals to see if it is safe for human use. 

Till today, millions of animals are subjected to cruel experiments even though statistics show that where experiments regarding diseases are performed, the test results are unreliable. The fact is that each human reacts differently to bacteria and viruses, and so when an animal is artificially injected with a virus, it will not show the same results as when a human contracts a virus in a natural environment. 

The alternative to this is human volunteers who can give their cells and tissues for an experiment. Surely, these methods will provide far more reliable results than experiments performed on animals who are different from us. 

Currently, there doesn’t seem to be a total ban on animal testing. What we can do is join campaigns, lend our voice, and hope that one day this cruel practice is ended. 

We do need our products to be carefully tested, and for cures of diseases to be found. The advancement in the field of science can hopefully discover more humane methods to do these tests and for that to happen it is vital for countries to fund these programs.