Should animal testing be legal?

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Subject classification: this is a medicine resource.

Subject classification: this is a law learning projects resource.

We made several important medical discoveries due to animal testing, but is it morally correct? Do the means justify the ends when we cause suffering and death to non-human animals? We usually value human life above all others but are there any limits on what costs are worth the benefits to us?

By animal testing we mean experimentation with non-human animals for the purpose of scientific research.

Animal testing should be legal

• Argument for — Animal testing helps researchers find cures and treatments for human and non-human diseases. As humans we should value other humans above animals and reduce harm to humans.
  • Objection — To value humans over other animals just because they are human, constitutes speciesism.
• Argument against — Animals are not mere objects for humans to treat as we will, they do not consent to participate in experiments in which they may suffer and die, and we have no right to force this on them.
  • Objection — Why not? Is there anything that animals do consent to? Is it possible to know their consent? Using this line of logic, humans would also have no right to force them into servitude as pets.
• Argument against — Using animals as a model for diseases or drug responses in humans can be unreliable, leading to experiments that cause animal suffering without helpful results to justify them.

See also

• Should we go vegan?