to life, liberty, and security of a person (Browning). If humans are capable of getting

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1 In 1948 many nations worldwide signed and approved the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The document considered the basic rights of a human such as the right to life, liberty, and security of a person (Browning). If humans are capable of getting these rights, then why are not animals allowed to have these equal rights since they have the same emotions as humans? Animals can feel pain and distress. They go through a great amount of pain in a vicious process called animal experimentation that only helps humans and gives animals unlimited amount of pain and distress, afterwards leaving them for a horrible death. Animals are sentient, and they do have equal rights when compared to humans. Also, there are many alternatives available to get rid of this vicious method. Therefore, animal experimentation should be against the law for its cruel and inhumane treatment. Animal experimentation is the process in which animals of different kinds are vivisected or by other means used to experiment on. Animal experimentation is used for various reasons. Federal agencies like the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), EPA, CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission), and NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) use animal experimentation as a tool to test the safety of products; like cosmetics, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals (Grolier).The long effects of toxic agents such as pesticides, smoking, marijuana, drugs can also be found through animal experimentation. It is also used to study and find cures for diseases. Students in schools use animals to know more about life and physiology or how living things behave in a certain way. Animals such as mice, rats, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, cats, dogs, frogs, turtles, as well as other species are studied and vivisected on (Cothran).

2 To begin with, it is a proven fact that animals are sentient and can feel pain. When in a state of pain and distress, hormones like endorphins and cortisones, which are painkiller chemicals in the body, are released in the brain. Mammals, fish, and birds are all capable of producing pain-controlling substances. Even a small earthworm can produce them (Browning). To illustrate the point, researchers have separated a sheep from its group for a small amount of time on a farm, to prove sheep are distressed when separated from each other. Scientists found out that the sheep s endorphins and cortisones increased abundantly through this distress situation. Researchers did a similar test with sheep by putting them in trucks while they are taken away to different places; in addition giving them baths using chemicals to prevent them from diseases (Browning). The results were always the same. This reveals that when animals are experimented on, they go through a great amount of pain being separated from each other or trapped in cages for months or even years. Also the fact that a small worm can feel pain tells the readers that the size of an animal does not matter, since a small creature can also feel pain and suffer when found in a situation of distress. For instance, on January 17, in Gauhati, India, an elephant killed a man while he was sleeping (Dixon). Readers can already tell that the man must have suffered a lot and must have gone through unlimited pain, even though he was much smaller than the elephant in size. This attack illustrates that the size of an animal does not matter when it comes to pain and suffering. It can be proven that the man suffered a lot even though he was really small compared to the size of an elephant. Moreover, perfumes or other solutions that are tested on animals such as rabbits contain more than a hundred painful chemicals (Edhelper). When these chemicals are sprayed into an animal s eye, the pain is unbearable. Animal experimenters have agreed upon this

3 fact. This proves that many animals go through this pain. Even though humans are the ones that benefit from these vicious experiments, the animals just suffer in pain. The fact that animals can not talk and complain gives humans a more important reason to think about, since animals can not cry like humans would when found in a state of affliction. Scientists that do these experiments can not tell how much pain the animals go through at the time. From all these facts, it can be told that animals suffer tremendously when they are experimented on. It is morally wrong to suffer a creature that has every similarity with a human in terms of feeling pain and being vulnerable. Most of the chemicals that are used to test upon animals cause a great amount of pain to an animal, whether it is the size of a worm or the size of an elephant. In recent years it has been proven that animals have specific needs: like, freedom from hunger and thirst, freedom of discomfort, freedom of pain, injury, and disease, freedom from fear and distress, freedom to express normal behavior (Cothran). Scientists usually keep animals in cages for months and even years when those animals are not needed at the time. The animals are fed, but can t go outside the laboratories. For this reason, animals can not express their normal behavior in laboratories that they would in their own natural habitat or environment. They can not act or play with their groups like they would in their natural surroundings (Judson). This shows that animals are usually lonely in those cages and are forced to stay in the laboratories where they are exposed to many dangerous chemicals. Their deserved right to live their life the way they want, to act natural and to be in their own environment, where they can enjoy life, like humans do, is taken away from them only for the benefits of humans. Not only animals suffer in the laboratories because they can not express their normal behaviors, but also because they

4 are faced with many vicious methods that are used to experiment on animals. These methods, like tying them up and keeping them in cages makes the animals want to harm themselves as well as others because of the boredom and fear that they are forced to go through (Browning). Animals go through a great amount of discomfort due to their surrounding in the laboratories. They are faced with and see much vicious equipment that is found in the laboratories, which makes them go through fear. They become bored and start to harm themselves or other animals in the cages by biting and fighting (Browning). The fact that animals already suffer a lot through the methods that are used to experiment animals on is not enough for animal experimenters. Animal experimenters usually treat animals like robots. They are not considered about the animals feeling when the animal is held painfully in the researcher s hands. They do not care where they place the animals. The animals that are being tested on usually do not get pain killer shots or medicine. This cruelty makes the animal go through even more pain when the animals are being cut and when sharp knives are working through their bodies. This exemplifies that animal experimenters usually are not concerned about the way animals feel in the laboratories. The fact that animals are not given pain killers explains a lot. Animals suffer a lot when they know and feel the pain while being cut and harmed. Surroundings in the laboratories are not suitable for animals and are a huge discomfort for them. Scientists treat animals as if animals made of stone. Not only do scientists treat animals physically awful while handling them or cutting them, but also treat animals emotionally awful when they are trapped in cages for month and years, sitting bored and in a huge discomfort. To decrease the pain that animals get from animal experimentations, many alternatives are available that can be used to get rid of this painful process. Human tissue

5 can be used to replace the method that tests the effect of drugs and vaccines. A small amount of tissue is needed. It can be grown in a dish for testing (Grolier). Similarly, microbes such as yeast and bacteria have similar structures and even some DNA with humans (Browning). These can also be used to test the effects of vaccine and other drugs or chemicals. Using human tissue and bacteria or yeast are great alternatives that can be used to substitute vaccines and drugs being tested on a rabbit s or other animals eyes (Browning). These chemicals cause a great amount of pain, but if the other alternatives are used then the amount of animals being tested on would tremendously decrease. In a similar way, selective formation is another alternative in which ingredients from the past have been tested and are used again to make new products (Grolier). Many manufactures are following this method in planning their product lines. If selective formation is used instead of keep testing on animals, then new experimentation on animals won t be needed, which would decrease the animals being used. Indicating a hazardous product by giving a color change, corrositex is one other test tube choice (Grolier). It can prevent many animals from suffering, if this method is also used effectively. There are many alternatives available that can decrease the amount of animals used each year for testing that cause great pain and discomfort to the animals. Animal experimentation is a very cruel and inhumane process no matter what advances humans might get from the achievements. It is morally and ethnically wrong if the rights of animals are thoroughly and well considered. This inhumane process causes a great amount of discomfort, fear, and pain to the animals that are being victimized. Animals are considered as living beings and they have every equal right like humans in terms of having an independent life, spending time in their natural habitats, and enjoying

6 their natural life that they naturally are accustomed to. To provide them with that freedom, getting rid of animal experimentation is a must action that needs to be taken by every single human.