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Question: where do you stand on using animal for experiments and trails with medicine and commercial products, do you agree with using defenceless creatures to test make up even though using them has partially advanced science techniques is what is being done to them cruelty in your eyes??
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anon answered on 16 Mar 2010:
Woah! What a question!
In my opinion, we must use animals in some experiments. However, I DO NOT believe that ALL experiments need animals and I am pleased to see that there are strict regulations on the use of animals.
Physicists rarely use animals in experiments. Having said that we do levitate frogs between magnets http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1vyB-O5i6E and some of the first creatures that were sent to space were animals. In my opinion, the former (frogs) was unnecessary, but, I’m assured, harmless. The latter I feel was essential as without testing rockets with chimps, we would be unsure that we could return a human safely from space.
As for medical trials, I think that these are essential also. For example, we can grow cancer cells in a petri dish, but this is unlike the body of .a mammal, therefore what might work in a laboratory may not work in a body. I would not like to give a cancer sufferer false hope just because I have laboratory results that “cure cancer” when it has not been tested.
As for the advances in make-up…well, I do use a lot of make-up, partially because I suffered from skin-cancer as a teenager and have to use (tinted) sunblock even in winter! However, this is one of those cases where I would argue that sun-block is a medical use. However, I do not agree that new make-ups should be tested on animals for two reasons:
1. Purely aesthetic reasons do not constitute a good enough reason to make an animal suffer.
2. There are enough existing products on the market and enough research about products so that make-up can now be made that can be tested on humans.One final thought: Taking antibiotics kills defenceless creatures (bacteria) which you probably do when you are ill. Taking antibiotics is also a common approach to stopping acne (spots). Here you are not participating in a trial but actively killing bacteria to make you feel better or look better? Where do you stand on that?
Comments
hayleybrooks1 commented on :
for the fact that bacteria is all around us and that some/ many can cause harm to people and animals then i feel that antibioticss are useful and that even though becteria is commonly classed as defenceless. that the damage they cause is seen more as targeted. for example bacteria and bacteriophages can have different ‘agendas’ lets say e-coli. it causes harm to others and the only way to get rid of it is by using certified antibiotics that where specifically created to counteract the effects brought on by certain bacteriophages.
however for testing on animals i must say that
1. it is cruel and direspectfull to creatures because they have no true say in what they want
2. some methods of testing are considered more like torture (the dog that was put into a room to test a newly created anestetic, that acted completley feral and ran into a wall repeatedly)
3. science advancement – due to animal testing science has improved and cures are being made
4. millions of people are benefiting from animals being used as test subjects
however, I feel that testing on animals is cruel and evil, but due to the fact that using them as test subjects has saved so many people including members of my family. the world we live in is not black and white, and the shades in between are the termoil that we feel towards this subject. but even thought i am against it, i cannot voice my opinion, as in doing so would be like telling people that they have to die becuase cures cannot be tested.
Louise commented on :
Never be afraid to voice your opinion Haley. The turmoil that you feel is felt by lots of us – and it is so difficult to know what is the right thing to do or believe. I struggle with it myself and my mind changes quite a bit. Know why you think what you think – what the facts are – but question everything always as what seems like a fact may not be on closer inspection, never lose your temper in a debate (calm rational people also do best in a debate!) and be prepared to change your mind regularly! Goodluck!
Freya commented on :
I agree with Louise, Hayley – we would never move forward in science (or in society in general) without debate and discussion. You have clearly thought a lot about this issue before coming to a decision, so who has the right to say that your opinion doesn’t matter?