How Bunnies Help Science

Animals in Science Experiments

Figure 1: Rabbit in wild

What are some small animals you can think of? Maybe you thought of bunnies, rats, cats, dogs, fish, frogs or even monkeys? Well, all of those animals can be used in science for experiments or tests. This is called ANIMAL TESTING. Animal testing has been around for hundreds of years and has helped scientists create new medicines and makeups. During animal testing, animals are kept in cages inside laboratories where they are watched and studied. The tests that scientists do on the animals are all trying to test whether the product or medicine is safe so that humans can take it and use it. Some examples of the tests are purposefully getting the animals 

Figure 2: Rat in wild 

sick to watch what happens, not feeding the animals, doing mini surgeries on them or even shock treatments. Some of the experiments may hurt the animals but some don't affect them at all. This seems cruel and unfair to the animals but in the past, animal testing has helped create some very useful medicines for humans and helped to make sure that household cleaning supplies like Windex, is safe to use.

Figure 3: Brands that test on animals

Some popular products that use animal testing are Post-Its, Vaseline, Windex, Band-aids and even Kleenex. Figure 3 shows a larger list of brands that you probably use all the time that test on animals. 

ANIMAL TESTING gained a lot of bad attention and has many different groups of people fighting against it and working to make it illegal. On the other hand, there are many groups of people fighting for it to stay legal. They're argument is that there have been a lot of important things that have come from animal testing in the past that have helped humans. Penicillin, asthma treatments and insulin are all originally from ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION and have helped millions of people since then. Another "pro" to animal testing is that there are not many options of other ways to do these kinds of experiments. Without using animals, humans would need to be used instead. Some cons of animal testing are that it is very expensive to house the animals and feed them everyday. Also, some of the experiments do not end up giving good results or just don't work, so the animal was experimented on for no reason. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to animal testing but it is important to know where you stand and what you believe is right. So, what do you think?

For more information on the pros and cons visit: http://animal-testing.procon.org/

For more information on groups against animal testing visit: http://www.petakids.com/animal-facts/animals-used-experiments/

References:

1. 

About animal testing. (2017). Retrieved April 14, 2017, from http://www.hsi.org/
campaigns/end_animal_testing/qa/about.htmlBBC - Ethics - Animal ethics: Experimenting on animals. (2009).
Retrieved April 14, 2017, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/using/experiments_1.shtml

Animal Testing [Photograph]. (2017). Retrieved April 27, 2017, from http://www.allaboutanimals.org.uk/PK-Testing.asp

Animal testing [Photograph]. (2014, December). Retrieved April 27, 2017, from http://wiki.kidzsearch.com/wiki/Animal_testing 

2. 
8 Products You Own That Are Tested on Animals. (2014). Retrieved April 21, 2017, from http://www.businessinsurance.org/8-products-you-own-that-are-tested-on-animals/

3 Ways to Buy Cruelty-Free Home, Health and Beauty Products on a Budget [Photograph]. (2016, July 31). Retrieved April 27, 2017, from https://thelifelongvegetarian.wordpress.com/2016/08/01/3-ways-to-buy-cruelty-free-home-health-and-beauty-products-on-a-budget/ 

3.

Murnaghan, I. (2017, April 12). Using Animals for Testing: Pros Versus Cons. Retrieved April 14, 2017, from http://www.aboutanimaltesting.co.uk/using-animals-testing-pros-versus-cons.html