Argumentative Essay on Animal Testing

Argumentative Essay on Animal Testing: Introduction

When we look at the history of thought, we see that meaning of self and nature has been realized in a human-centered way. In this respect, humans are at the top of the pyramid, while all other living creatures remain on the bottom layer and act as a tool for humans (Murray, 2007). In the last century, considerable criticism has been brought to the human-centric way of thinking. These criticisms emphasize that especially animals should be included in the scope of our ethical behavior. The need for 'Non-Human rights' will be discussed and explained below. If you see a person holding a knife in one hand and a bloody bag in the other, you will startle. It is like a horror movie scene. After you realize that the knife person is holding a chopper and that person wearing an apron, you understand the truth. This situation will create relief. Hundreds of people get injured and go to hospitals every year due to animal sacrifices for religious reasons. The number of those who do their job skillfully is uncertain. Hundreds of thousands of people have a hunting license. Those who have no license are even more. The only thing they need for a job is to equip their weapons and kill as much as they wish. In short, people keep living and go together in the same community, with those who able to kill, and those who cannot / will not ever be able to do this. So why do all these violent acts not cause discomfort or anxiety, and the overwhelming majority have to live their so-called "normal" life like this?

Body Paragraphs

According to studies, people who do not love animals and use violence against them tend to harm other people and become guilty (U.K. Government, 2018). It was well said by Mahatma Gandhi that; 'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.' Animals are used in various fields in every country in the world. There are many varieties of this use. They are; Pharmaceuticals, entertainment, food, and many other industries. Dogs and cats of many different breeds are mated and by that new breeds created. Puppies and kittens born and have to live with gene-related problems and experience pain. Such as American Staffordshire Bull Terrier, which was born in the 19th century by a bulldog and different types of terrier breeding. American Staffordshire Bullterrier breed preferred by American manufacturers, Pitbull, namely American Staffordshire, was produced by increasing the weight and strengthening the skull and chin. Also, such breeds of dogs are used to fight among themselves, like Gull Dong and Bandog.

While most Americans expect our existing laws to protect farm animals, the reality falls far short. Animals raised for food are among the least-protected animals in our nation (“Issues,” n.d.). Farm animals are emotionally terrorized, as well as the terrible physical conditions in which they live (“Canadian Council on Animal Care,” 2019). They are never allowed to stay with their calves. The cows are conceived with bull sperm, which are regularly placed in their bodies by the human hand to give milk (“Farm Animal Welfare,” n.d.). Cows, who have been pregnant for nine months, like a human being, are forced to leave their calves as soon as they give birth. The mother cow, which can be milk at the moment, looking for her calf for days, while the calf is placed in a separate place alone, as an item. This cycle, which functions as a continuous killing machine, continues until the mother cow is no longer able to give birth, and in the end, both the mother and the calf are cut for meat.

Tens of thousands of chickens are kept stacked one by one in small cages without windows and are killed without ever opening their wings throughout their lives. Since male chicks do not have a production value in the egg sector, 1-2 days old chicks are slaughtered alive by grinding machines or drowned in large bags. The number of fish killed for human consumption is unknown, but surely more than land animals. Fish with the central nervous system, like other animals, feel pain; During the hunting, they die in great pain by drowning or piercing their bodies with harpoons. The queen bee, whose wings are removed so that she does not fly away in the beekeeping sector (Diana Lupica, 2017), is the result of the same exploitation by killing the bee group that cannot produce much honey and creates new bee groups.

Animal experiments have been carried out since the early ages in their simplest form. However, with the development of medical science, especially after the 20th century, such experiments gained speed in parallel with the experiments performed on humans. On the other hand, the excessive use of animals in the experiments and the use of painful methods have led to increased sensitivity to the subject in society. Thus, the necessity of introducing ethical principles and standards that must be observed in animal experiments has been met, national and international regulations have been made for this purpose, and ethical committees have been established. However, there are still industries that fail to comply with all regulations and rules and use animals relentlessly for science. In the United States (2017), almost 1 million animals are held captive in laboratories or used in experiments, plus an estimated 100 million mice and rats. This number increases even more in Canada (2018) compared to 3.9 million animals used in experiments and 120,099 animals subjected to ‘severe pain near, at, or above the pain tolerance threshold of the unanesthetized conscious animal.’ And with the highest number of United Kingdom (2018) with 3.52 million procedures on animals. Human health and well-being can also be promoted by adopting nonviolent methods of scientific investigation, by preventing different lifestyles, and the prevention of further environmental pollution and degradation.

Animal Testing: Conclusion

As a result, putting all living things other than humans under a single and prevalent category as animals is not only a sin committed against sound thought, clarity of mind, or empirical understanding, it is but also a crime. It is not a crime against livestock; it is a first-degree crime against animals and individual animals. Otherwise, will we compromise on the assumption that every murder, every violation of the command 'You shall not kill' concerns only human beings and ultimately only; crimes against humanity? In our reputation, violent acts against some animals are punished in the crime category, especially as a result of the animal rights struggle in many European countries. However, the legal status of animals, which are subjected to violence, is still referred to as "sensitive creatures." Therefore, an important point to be taken into consideration to prevent the "subjective" or "objective" violence against animals is to turn the animals from being "objects" and turn them into "living person."

References

Canadian Council on Animal Care, ‘CCAC 2018 Animal Data Report’, 2019, https://ccac.ca/Documents/AUD/2018-Animal-Data-Report.pdf

Diana Lupica, October 3, 2017, ‘Misconception: Is Honey Cruel?? Why? Isn't? It? Vegan?’. Farm Animal Welfare, Laws, https://aspca.org/animal-cruelty/farm-animal-welfare

“Issues, Animal Companions, ‘Fish in Tanks’, https://peta.org/issues/animal-companion-issues/cruel-practices/fish-tanks/ L. Murray, May 14, 2007, Advocacy .

U.K. Government, “Annual Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals Great Britain 2018,” Home Office, July 18, 2019,