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The Disadvantages of Animal Experimentation

Imagine your lovable little dog confined to a cage and subjected to often painful experimental procedures. Yet, animals who've done nothing but be born suffer in order that companies might produce not only lifesaving medicines and procedures, but also cosmetics. Using animals in scientific experiments has many disadvantages, the most important of which is unnecessary cruelty to animals.

  1. Similar Species

    • Animal experimentation seeks to duplicate in animals what will happen to a human being using or being exposed to the same product. Scientists carefully choose animals that most nearly resemble humans in the factor being tested such as skin, brain, heart, muscles or bones. But no matter how close the match, animals and humans are different species and differ in critical ways down to the cellular level. No matter how many animals scientists use to test a product or how beneficial the results, it still doesn't guarantee the results will be duplicated in humans.

    Living Animals

    • With animal experimentation, scientists subject animals to confinement, often in small cages. Test animals often undergo brutal surgeries and other painful invasive procedures. Animals suffer through invasive surgeries, because scientists perform radical procedures without the benefit of anesthesia. These animals feel every cut, every slice, every stitch into their skin, bones, head and organs. Many feel harming these living creatures for scientific experimentation is unnecessary, especially since other alternatives have been developed.

    After the Experimentation

    • After experimenting with animals, testing labs are left with animals crippled mentally and physically by the horrific testing procedures imposed upon them. Once the testing concludes, whether or not the experiment proved successful, the scientists have no use for these leftover animals. The animals are too damaged for use with further experimentation, leaving the science labs with the problem of disposing of these damaged creatures.

    Expense

    • Animals cost money. It costs money to purchase animals for experimentation. It costs money to provide feed and housing for the animals. Animals require facilities with heat, air and light, and they require space -- even if only for a series of cages. Animals create waste that costs money to clean and eliminate on a regular basis. It costs money to buy the numerous restraints to immobilize animals that struggle to escape from the scientists. Add in the expense of disposal.

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