Animal experimenting

Experimentation on animals is used to develop medicines and test the safety of other products, such as cosmetics. The experiments are not healthy for the animals, and they can have significant effects on the animals, which is why charities such as PETA strongly disagree with any form of animal testing, and anything relating. Morally, it is wrong to cause animals to suffer for experimentation purposes, the animal experimenters are very aware that this is an ethical problem and they acknowledge that these experiments should be made as humane as possible. Scientists are encouraged to follow a set of principles that reduce the impact of research on animals; reduction, refinement and replacement. 

Reduction reducing the number of animals used in experiments by:
Improving experimental techniques
Improving techniques of data analysis
Sharing information with other researchers

Refinement refining the experiment or the way the animals are cared for so as to reduce their suffering by:
Better medical care
Using less invasive techniques
Better living conditions

Replacement replacing experiments on animals with alternative techniques such as:
Using computer models
Studying human volunteers
Experimenting on cell culture instead of whole animals
Using in epidemiological studies

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/using/experiments_1.shtml

There can be a for and against argument for the experimentation of animals (against being the strongest) however some argue that the benefits of these experiments include; if the suffering is minimised in all experiments and if the human benefits are gained which could not be obtained by using other methods. 

Alongside PETA, there are other charities/organisations such as Animal Aid, and this is the UK's largest animal rights group, and one of the longest established in the world. They campaign against all forms of animal abuse and promote a cruelty-free lifestyle. They expose animal cruelty and they carry out undercover investigations which are used by the media, therefore bringing the issues to the public attention.

"Each year inside British laboratories, nearly 4 million animals are experimented on. Every 8 seconds, one animal dies. Cats, dogs, rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, primates and other animals are used to test new products, to study human disease and in the development of new drugs. They are even used in warfare experiments. Animal Aid opposes animal experiments on both moral and scientific grounds. Animals are not laboratory tools. They are sentient creatures capable of experiencing pain, fear, loneliness, frustration and sadness.

To imprison animals and deny them their freedom to express natural instincts and to deliberately inflict physical pain in the name of science is unacceptable. All the more so because the experiments are bad science in the first place: they do not produce information that can be reliably applied to people. Ending vivisection will benefit people as well as animals"

Source:http://www.animalaid.org.uk/h/n/CAMPAIGNS/experiments/ALL///

Some of Animal Aid's campaigns

Basic facts

Some of the animals used for experimental purposes are;

• rodents 84%
• fish, amphibians, reptiles 12%
• large mammals 2.1%
• small mammals 1.4%
• dogs and cats 0.3%
• primates 0.1%

1. Over 100 million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned, and abused in US labs every year.
2. 92% of experimental drugs that are safe and effective in animals fail in human clinical trials because they are too dangerous or don’t work.
3. Labs that use mice, rats, birds, reptiles and amphibians are exempted from the minimal protections under the Animal Welfare Act (AWA).
4. Up to 90% of animals used in U.S. labs are not counted in the official statistics of animals tested.
5. Europe, the world’s largest cosmetic market, Israel and India have already banned animal testing for cosmetics, and the sale or import of newly animal-tested beauty products.
6. Even animals that are protected under the AWA can be abused and tortured. And the law doesn’t require the use of valid alternatives to animals, even if they are available. 
7. According to the Humane Society, registration of a single pesticide requires more than 50 experiments and the use of as many as 12,000 animals.
8. When used in cosmetic tests, mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs are often subjected to skin and eye irritation tests where chemicals are rubbed on shaved skin or dripped into the eyes without any pain relief.
9. In tests of potential carcinogens, subjects are given a substance every day for 2 years. Others tests involve killing pregnant animals and testing their fetuses.
10. The real-life applications for some of the tested substances are as trivial as an “improved” laundry detergent, new eye shadow, or copycat drugs to replace a profitable pharmaceutical whose patent expired.
11. “Alternative” tests achieve one or more of the “3 R’s:” replaces a procedure that uses animals with a procedure that doesn’t, reduces the number of animals used in a procedure, refines a procedure to alleviate or minimize potential animal pain.

Source:https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-animal-testing

United States (2010)^(1,2)

• 1.28 million animals used in experiments (excluding rats, mice, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and agricultural animals used in agricultural experiments), plus an estimated 100 million mice and rats

Canada (2009)⁽³⁾

• 3.38 million animals used in experiments
• 145,632 animals subjected to “severe pain near, at, or above the pain tolerance threshold of unanesthetized conscious animals”

United Kingdom (2012)⁽⁴⁾

• 4.11 million experiments on animals
• 2.95 million without anesthesia