Every year, 100 million animals are killed in animal testing by household products, cosmetics, and medical research companies. Animal testing was first used for research in the late nineteenth century. The first to document it was Louis Pasteur, who administered anthrax to a sheep to show the importance of vaccines. That one experiment led to the pain and suffering of animals today. Animal testing should be illegal because it is cruel, there are other methods that can be used, and it is inaccurate.

There are many arguments against animal testing. The first being, that it is cruel. The animals are kept in metal cages without the smallest of luxuries, such as soft beds, toys, and companionship. For an intelligent, feeling social creature to spend their life in a cage with little to no opportunities for exercise or play and with limited stressful interaction with humans is not a life any creature should have to endure.

Animal experimentation is a very painful process for the animals; that why other alternatives should be explored. Other methods include computer simulation, in-vitro tests and epidemiological studies, all of which have been useful in studying genetic functions, drug development, nutrition, psychology, disease, anatomy, and more.

Finally, the last argument is that animal testing can be inaccurate. Animals bodies do not react the same, which may cause misleading results, for example a mouse may react positive to a test while a bird may react negative.

Medical research been carried out on animals and successfully developed new and effective medical treatments. Animal testing saves lives with treatments that have been developed. Some of the most beneficial things to come out of animal experimentation have been penicillin, various asthma treatments, and insulin.

Another thing that is good about Amina's testing is that it provides adequate whole body, living-system test subjects. Guinea pigs have been used to develop antibiotics, replacement heart valves, to study blood transfusion and nutrition. It is hard for researchers to know how humans will react to a chemical without testing it on a similar organism first.

Finally, another reason that animal testing is good it that most animals' D.N.A. Is identical or very similar to humans. Apes/monkey share 98.8 percent of their D.N.A. with humans. The similarities in D.N.A. Help researchers make sure the effects of a chemical or product will be similar to human as it was the animal.

Animal experimentation has its positives, but more animals die in the testing process than humans are saved. Claims that people are living longer today primarily because of animal experimentation have shown to be false. Researchers noted that the increase in life expectancy is primarily attributed to the decline in killer epidemics such as tuberculosis, scarlet fever, smallpox and many other diseases.

During the testing process, the animals have to experience painful and stressful environments. One example of unnecessary suffering would be the Draize test, which is one method to measure the harmfulness of ingredients contained in household products and cosmetics. The Draize involves dripping the test substance into a rabbit's eye and recording the damage over three to twenty-one days. Rabbits are used for this test because their eyes have no tear ducts to wash away the irritant, and their eyes are big enough to clearly see the irritation.

Animals may share D.N.A. With humans, but they react to certain things differently, so it its hard to know how accurate the results are. One example being that rodents are more prone to cancer than humans making them poor models for studying carcinogenicity.

Due to its cruel nature, inaccuracy and the availability of other alternatives, animal testing should be eliminated. With more efficient, cost-effective, alternative methods to animals testing, will more companies go cruelty free? A survey for 2011 found that 67% of Americans believe that companies should not test products like cosmetics and dish soap on animals, and 60% are more likely to buy products from companies that are cruelty-free (Science). The way consumers can best influence companies is by protesting with their pocketbooks. Choose to buy products that have not been tested on animals, and companies will change the way they develop their products!