HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

FINAL ASSIGNMENT FOR
ACADEMIC WRITING 3
Topic: Nowadays animal experiments are widely used to develop new
medicines and to test the safety of other products. Some people argue that
these experiments should be banned because it is morally wrong to cause
animals to suffer, while others are in favour of them because of their
benefits to humanity. Discuss both views and give your opinion

Name: Trần Thị Hồng Hải
Student ID: 20176397
Class: NNA.04 – K62
Hanoi, December 2018


HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

FINAL ASSIGNMENT FOR
ACADEMIC WRITING 3
Topic: Nowadays animal experiments are widely used to develop new
medicines and to test the safety of other products. Some people argue that
these experiments should be banned because it is morally wrong to cause
animals to suffer, while others are in favour of them because of their
benefits to humanity. Discuss both views and give your opinion.

Module code: FL3043
Module Leader: Nguyen Thi Dieu Linh
Student: Tran Thi Hong Hai

Student ID: 20176397
Class: NNA.04

Hanoi, December 2018


SHOULD ANIMAL TESTING BE BANNED?
Introduction
Testing plays a crucial role in medical research to determine if what is being tested is
safe for human use. Since the late nineteenth-century animal testing has been performed to
collect data for achieving medical advancements and over the years, billions of animals have
been sacrificed for various researches. This issue has been ignited a number of debates
between proponents who appreciate medical advantages and opponents whose concern is
animal right. Tom Regan, a philosophy professor at North Carolina State University, states:
"Animals have a basic moral right to respectful treatment.” (1985); in other words,
experiments on animals should be banned because it is morally inhumane to cause animals to
suffer from the avoidable pain. However, using animals for scientific tests has proved its
great contribution to the development of numerous live-saving treatments and the animals in
these cases could be considered as “the unsung heroes of modern medicines” (Nogrady,
2016). The concern that whether animal testing should be banned or not has been a debatable
issue and this essay will provide you the both-sided discussion.
Content
1. Concerns about animal experiments
1.1. Ethical issues.
Like humans, animals also have the feeling of pain when being hurted. To put in
another way, ethical issues are the most important reason to put a ban on the using animals in
experiments. Throughout the history of animal experimentation, the idea of animal testing has
started in the 3rd centuries BCE by ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle and Erasistratus
(Hajar, 2011). Up to the 17 th century, a French philosopher, René Descartes argued that
animals did not experience pain and suffering because they lack consciousness. Nearly three

centuries later, in 1989, Bernard Rollin, the principal author of two US federal laws


regulating pain relief for animals have provided "scientifically acceptable" grounds for
claiming that animals also have at least simple conscious thoughts and feeling (Nurunnabi et
al., 2013). In fact, there is no doubt that the pain the animals have to suffer in experiments are
similar to human’s physical pain. For example, by watching mammals or even birds, you will
see how they respond to the world. They play. They relax when things are good.They act
frightened when having dangers. It seems illogical to think that animals might have a
conscious mental experience of play, sleep, fear or love like human. Though animals lack the
ability to express their feeling via verbal language,they still have right to live and enjoy their
life with physical comfort, not to be mistreated by chemicals, stress or even killed in the
laboratories.
1.2. High cost but inaccurate results.
In the US, it is estimated that over 20 million taxpayer dollars is wasted annually to
expose animals to drugs in laboratories (Mac, 2010). While a number of unemployed people
have been struggling to survive and enormous families have lost their home because of
natural disasters, the government still invests huge amount of money in many vain
experiments. The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently has showed that more
than 90 percent of basic science discoveries from experiments on animals failed to create
human treatments (Michelle, 2018). The failure of animal tests comes from different factors
such as nausea from toxic compounds, discomfort and pain from induced syndromes, natural
and experimental infections, etc. This means most of experiments carried on animals are
useless. Moreover, it is difficult for developing countries to discover effective medical
treatments by promoting such expensive experiments. Their limited financial capacity should
be spent on developing facilities, educational system and many other worthwhile programs
rather than on these high-risk trials.
1.3. Alternative methods - Key to release animals from laboratories.



Recent years, scientists have made great effort to minimize the number of animals
which is used for medical research. More than 50 years ago, British scientists came up with
the principles of the “3Rs” including Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. Briefly,
Replacement is the method which avoid or replace the use of animals; Reduction is the
restriction of animal use in each experiment or study consistent with the scientific aims and
Refinement is the attempt to limit unnecessary suffering and improve animal welfare
(Mackenzie, 2018) as the it is paramount, if the animals is not well, then the result of
experiment will be meaningless. In addition to the “3Rs”, many other reliable non-animal
methods are available such as using human tissues, computer modules or cell culture and
other modern methods. Thanks to high advanced technology, alternative solutions may help
scientists improve the quality of experiments without harming animals.
2. Benefits of animal experiments to humanity
2.1. Irreplaceable contributions.
Animal testing has contributed to saving human life. The creation of vaccine have
paved the way for animal testing and medical system. Father of microbiology Louis Pasteur
who invented the first vaccines for rabies and anthrax tested the effect and safety of his
vaccine on sheep. The success of this invention has protected millions of people from
suffering rabies. Besides, vaccines, which are developed from animal testing, allow the early
prevention of numerous other diseases such as polio, measles, chickenpox, mumps. Despite
the difference between human and animal cell, biological similarities are also available,
providing a basis for scientists to carry out their experiments. In fact, animal testing has
contributed to 70% of Nobel prizes in physiology and medicine. In short, animal testing plays
a crucial role in the advancement of medicine (Blakemore, 2008)


Jon Klingborg, former president of the California Veterinary Medical Association
(CVMA) claimed that ““These animals are heroes. Their contribution to discovering
life-saving advancements in medicine and science—for both pets and humans—is
enormous; Thanks to the last century of animal research, we have achieved life-saving
treatments for people and animals. As veterinarians, we are able to treat more ailments

and prevent more diseases, and that allows us to keep our pets living longer and
healthier.” (CVMA, 2017)
Not only human beings but also animals are beneficiaries of those tests. Without
animal research, millions of dogs, cats, birds, fishes etc. might suffer dead caused by more
than 200 diseases. In some other cases, researching on animals helps scientists find out a
measurement to save the endangered species from becoming extinct. It is undeniable that we
have obtained a great number of significant achievements on animal testing ground which
can never be replaced by any other methods.
2.2. The number of animals used in research is much smaller than killed for food.
It is difficult to come up with an accurate worldwide number of animals used in
laboratories but according to the statistics in 2016 of website Speaking of Research, in the
US, scientists have discovered approximately 27 million of animals in research while the
total is nearly 10 billions; or only 1% devoted for science even as the 99% remaining is for
other purposes. It is estimated that the number of animals used for scientific research is 14
times less than that of animals died because of traffic. In addition, there is a similarity
between the scientists and the farmers as both use animals for the benefits of human beings
even for food, production or for research. No matter what the purposes are, animals are
vulnerable to physical and mental pain. As a result, instead of decreasing the number of
testing animals, going vegan might be a better solution to save animals from the death and


suffering. In contrast, if an animal dies for science, it is not in vain but for the sake of saving
human lives and may be considered ethical to some extents.
2.3. Should animal experiment be banned?.
Animal research remains the subject of widespread debates and controversies all of us
because the answer is not right or wrong 100% but it depends on the individual way of
thinking. However, the findings from different researches throughout history have proved that
the benefits of animals testing has been overwhelmed the concerns.. Though the dramatic
development of science and technology gives the possibility to have an alternative method for
testing animal testing is a necessary evil, and should be allowed and limited rather than

enforce strict rules.
Conclusion
This essay has attempted to examine and analyse both drawbacks and benefits of
animal experiment. While having some drawbacks, animal testing should be viewed as an
effective and important method to develop new medicines and test the safety of other
products. Scientists are making effort to minimize the use of animal for experiments;
therefore, it is expected to come to a perfect solution in the future when the term animal
testing is no longer exist while people are able to enjoy a healthier and even longer life.
However, there is a long way to go before people reach this scenario and testing on animal is
still the primary method for medicine advance to rely on.


References:
Blakemore, C. (2008) Should we experiment on animals? Yes. Retrieved from:
/>CVMA, (2017) Animal Research: How it Benefits Both Humans and Animals. Retrieved
from: />Hajar, R. (2011) Animal Testing and Medicine. Retrieved from:
/>Kretzer, M. (2018) Experiments on Animals Fail 90% of the Time. Why Are They Still
Done?. Retrieved from: />Mac, M. (2010) The High Cost of Animal Testing. Retrieved from:
/>Mackenzie, C. (2018) Animal research: is it a necessary evil?. Retrieved from:
/>Nogrady, B. (2016) Animal testing: Could it ever be banned completely?. Retrieved from:
/>Regan, T. (2011) The Case for Animal Right. Retrieved from: />