Some people do not understand that animals, like humans, are sentient beings. Animals do feel pain.
There are many reasons why research on animals should not be carried out, for example an animal’s response to a drug may be misleading as animals react differently to some drugs than humans do. Also the stress that an animal can endure whilst in a laboratory can affect the experiment and make the results meaningless.
If Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is true then it means that animals are our ancestors and we have no right to kill them.
We have a very advanced scientific world now, for example men can get to the moon. Some people believe that if we are scientifically advanced enough to get a man onto the moon then we should be able to find a way to research on something other than animals.
Islam allows people to test on animals, but this is only if there is no other alternative. This is because they feel that life is part of the world God created and should therefore be treated with respect.
“Whoever is kind to the creatures of God, is kind to himself.” – This is a quote by The Prophet Muhammad.
This quote shows how Muhammad feels about harming animals, therefore Muslims today respect how he feels about animals and tries to not harm animals in the modern day unless it is completely necessary.
Buddhists would disagree with this as the 5 precepts state not to harm a living thing, therefore they would not harm an animal under any circumstances. If a Buddhist did harm an animal then they would gain bad Karma. Also as Buddhists believe in Samsara and the cycle of rebirth they believe that animals should not be harmed as they are also in the cycle of rebirth.
However some people may agree with this statement, especially Christians as they believe that God made animals for the use of humans. Some people may believe that humans are the only other living things that can be tested on with accurate results but as they believe humans to be the superior species animals are the only alternative, so therefore they must be researched on.
Also people agree with this statement because there are more animals in the world than humans so a death of an animal means less than a death of a human.
Another reason that people my agree that animals should be tested on is that the animals that they test on might be considered as pests, so it is a useful way of removing pests. There are many cures to diseases that have been found out by testing on animals, so therefore they have been killed for the good of many others.
In conclusion I think there are many valid reasons why animals should be researched on, however the cruelty of it all outweighs the benefits. I also think that it is not necessary to use animals with the advanced technology we have. Scientists should be able to find another way instead of torturing innocent animals.
