The Anti-Vivisection Society: The Ethics Of Animal Testing

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Animals have contributed to the pursuit of scientific knowledge for centuries, but what is left out of this glorification of their use is that most of them died or suffered for that pursuit. One of the earliest documentations of animal testing took place in a place where human dissection was unacceptable, Ancient Greece. It is stated in Stephane Liou’s “The Ethics of Animal Experimentation” that from that time, the use of animals increased exponentially after humans continued the benefits of it (Liou). This was used for years until scientists and parts of society slowly began to recognize the moral issues of using animal testing. People began to be against that sort of testing and formed groups like “The Anti-Vivisection Society”.…show more content…
Many animals are subject to painful and horrible treatment due to the law not protecting them. Their treatment includes them being put in insufferable situations that show no care for the wellbeing of the animal. They are in some cases blinded, electrocuted, and even starved. In the more intrusive tests there is also a substantial lac of use when it comes to anesthesia. The use of anesthesia, which is commonly used to reduce or numb the pain that a patient or test subject experiences, is neglected. This neglection causes the animal to endure the pain that is being inflicted upon them, which is extremely…show more content…
An example of one of these laws is the Animal Welfare Act. As defined by the United States Department of Agriculture, the Animal Welfare Act is an act that sets a standard that which certain animals are to be treated and regulates the conditions that animals are allowed to be in for testing, commercial use and transport (USDA). The Animal Welfare Act has good potential and intention, but it does not do enough to reduce the inhumanity of animal testing. Doris Lin states, “Because 95 percent of the animals used in research are mice and rats and because the nine billion land animals slaughtered for food in the U.S every year are exempted, the vast majority of animals used by humans are excluded from the AWA’s protection” (Lin).The welfare act managed to help some of the animals that are forced into animal testing, the only problem is it is very general and does not cover the group of animals that make up the largest part. This act creates a facade that there is actually a significant effect on the progress of animal testing refinement taking place in modern animal testing, when truly ninety percent of animals are still not protected. The animals that are excluded from this act are not even subject to inspection to check their well being. In U.S. Law and Animal Experimentation: A Critical Primer, Stephen R. Latham explains that,
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