Animals are used for a variety of different tests. Human disease cures are always tried on animals first, most make up must perform experiments with the product on animals first, and dogs and pigs are used to practice surgery on for surgeons. It is not fair and humane to conduct experiments on animals to make sure a product or procedure is safe for us to use or endure. There are no legitimate reasons that an animals life is worth less than our own.
I think that animal’s should have similar rights that people have because they too feel pain and experience emotions and just because they look different doesnt mean that they are that much different than us. I understand that scientists do need to test out products, but wouldnt they get more accurate results of they tested a human product on a human? For example, while trying to find a cure for a stroke scientists have tested many possibilities out on rats. Out of the hundreds of tests only thirty have worked on the rats, and out of those thirty only three have had any success in humans (Freeman, speaker).
I think we would find cures and medications much easier if we tested these things out on our own species. By testing on humans we would get more information on how our bodies react to different drugs compared to continuing the testing on different species that dont have the same body and DNA make-up as us. It makes it easiest to test on animals because they cant disagree or volunteer. That would make it difficult to test on humans because many people would not want to experience the kind of pain we put these animals, and rightly so.
The tests animals endure are full of constant pain and torture, even if the product being tested is mascara. The benefits that we get from experimenting with animals cannot alone morally justify killing them on our own behalf. Speciesism is the hurting of others because they are a member of another species; to me this definition is exactly what we are doing to all the lab rats, mice, pigs, etc. Scientists say that it is beneficial to humans to test out all these products and drugs on animals but they always seem to leave out the part about how it would be even more beneficial to test things on ourselves.
I think the real reason we sacrifice hundreds of thousands of animals lives to possibly save a few human is because we view ourselves as more superior to rats, mice, dogs, pigs, monkeys, etc. Even though in an Associate Press survey 2/3 of Americans surveyed said an animals right are just as important as a humans, nobody would die in place of a rodent. Many people think that humans are smarter than all other animals and thats why their lives can be sacrificed, but KoKo the gorilla has an IQ of 80, which is only twenty points lower than the average human (The Rights of Animals).
That means that no one can factor in intelligence level for who partakes in food and medical experiments because most mentally challenged people have a lower I Q than KoKo the gorilla. Besides, an intelligent person doesnt suffer from pain differently than dumb people so why would they not have to be tested on. Also it seems that the human population is forgetting that we are animals too. Chimpanzees share about 98% of our DNA and we were created by these same animals. For now, we are the end of the evolution, but that doesnt make us better than the animals that we came from.
I dont think that it is our place to judge who deserves to die in order for another species to live; nobody has earned that right. This paper may make me seem like I am a strong advocate for animals rights, but Im not even a vegetarian. I do disagree with how animals are treated by humans and I think every person would be if they knew what was actually going on in the labs and test areas. Testing out products and doing experiments on animals just seems to prolong scientists studies because they are wasting their time on things that most likely wont work on humans.
If we tested on humans we would know quickly if that specific drug or product can be used by the human population. Its also not fair to put animals through grueling tests and painful experiments. We are also animals but instead of realizing that we are one of them we put ourselves on a pedestal because we think we are smarter and that makes us better. We are all animals and we were created with help from other species, so why do we have the right to say who can live and who can die? The fact is we dont, but because animals cant speak up and chose their own destiny we will continue to take advantage of all species that are less than ourselves.