Using animals for laboratory research is not new: European researchers first began large scale animal experimentation in the nineteenth century. Today, the use of animals in experiments is so widespread and so uncontrolled that no one is certain of the exact number of animals being used. Estimates range from between 30 million animals per year to 100 million (Stevens 39). What is known for certain is that animals are suffering a great deal of pain and premature death during the experiments. Sometimes, the tests themselves are suspect, meaning that animals are being sacrificed for no apparent reason. Companies have arisen specifically for the purpose of providing animals for research purposes, bringing with them questionable business practices and leaving behind the welfare of the animals in question. This paper focuses on the issue of using animals in experimentation, including a brief history of the process, how animals are used today, and what can be done to curtail the unnecessary killing and maiming of animals.
Demonstrations against animal experimentation began almost as soon as did widespread use of the procedure. England was the site of the most vocal protest, and the anti-animal experimenters can be divided into two groups. The first group were the antivivisectionists. These individuals were opposed to any animal research on the grounds that the pain inflicted on another living creature was itself revolting, and that humanity as a whole was degraded by the practice. The second group was also opposed to animal research on humane grounds, but did not seek the abolition of such research. Instead, these individuals sought to limit the research that was performed to that which was necessary (Dresser 1148). While those opposed to animal research were able to get some relevant legislation passed in the late nineteenth century in Great Britain, the United States movement was less successful. It was not until late in t...