Can you think of three reasons for and three reasons against using animals in medical research?
Every year about seventeen million animals are used in laboratory experiments. But in many countries today, a difficult question is being asked: Do we have the right to use animals this way?
The case for using animals in research
The use of animals in medical research has many practical benefits. Animal research has enabled researchers to develop treatments for many diseases, such as heart disease and depression(抑郁症）. It would not have been possible to develop vaccines(疫苗) for diseases like smallpox and polio(小儿麻痹症) without animal research. Every drug anyone takes today was tried first on animals.Future medical research is dependent on the use of animals. Which is more important: the life of a rat or that of a three-year-old child?
Medical research is also an excellent way of using unwanted animals. Last year, over twelve million animals had to be killed in animal shelters because nobody wanted them as pets.
The case against using animals in research
The fact that humans benefit cannot be used to justify(证明是正当的) using animals in research any more than it can be used to justify experimenting on other humans. Animals suffer a lot during these experiments. They are forced to live in small cages, and they may be unable to move.
Much of the research that is carried out is unnecessary anyway.
Animals have the same rights as humans do—to be able to move freely and not to have pain or fear forced on them. Researchers must find other ways of doing their research, using cell culture and computer modeling. There should be no animals in research laboratories at all.
