This theme song to a popular cartoon is a farce dealing with experiments carried out on animals. In the cartoon one mouse is made very smart and wants to take over the world while the other is clearly not as smart. While the cartoon makes jokes, the reality is those mice and other animals re being used for medical tests every day. For some people this testing brings up ethical questions. One of the biggest questions: is it really necessary to take the lives of animals in the name of science and for the betterment of humanity? For animal rights activists, like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), the answer is no. PETA pressures labs into halting experiments because they believe that animals are not to be used by humans for "food, clothing, entertainment, or to experiment on" (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals 1). Its stance is that any testing is painful, inhumane, and unnecessary when alternatives are available. The PETA website says that "animals

, like humans, have interests that cannot be sacrificed or traded away simply because it might benefit others." (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals 2-3). Essentially, PETA is of the opinion that animals and humans should have identical rights. In their press releases PETA puts out pictures of rabbits with open flesh wounds and dogs with rashes on their skins--all in an attempt to disgust people into sympathy for their cause. In actuality the number of lab animals used has been cut in half in the last 25 years (James-Enger 254). Of the animals used, 90 percent are rats and mice (James-Enger 1). Moreover, 11 million animals die each year in animal shelters (Americans for Medical Progress 2) and an astounding 95 percent of the animals that die in America do so from human consumption (James-Enger 254). The reason that animal testing is appropriate is that there are regulations in place to minimize testing and pain, the alternatives are insufficient for now, and most importantly the information obtained from experimentation is irreplaceable.

The benefits gained from animal testing are too widespread to ignore. Everyday life has been changed for the better because of this testing. As 1990 Nobel Prize Laureate Joseph E. Murray, M.D. said, "Animal experimentation has been essential to the development of all cardiac surgery, transplantation surgery, joint replacements and all vaccinations" (Americans for Medical Progress 1). The numbers to back up this claim are that over 440,000 open-heart surgeries are performed and 11,000 kidneys are transplanted every year, not to mention that animal experimentation has made possible the salvation of 20,000 kidney dialysis patients each year (Botting 1). Also, the ability to test on animals has made possible the relatively safe and successful use of dangerous chemotherapy drugs to treat cancer (Americans for Medical Progress 1). Drugs such as this cannot be tested on humans because of their strength and potential for killing in inappropriate doses. If the proper dosage were not known, the results would be inaccurate and could be lethal. Many antibiotics and vaccines used today were developed and tested through animal research, as were insulin to control diabetes and nearly all modern anesthetics (Botting 1). It is hard to imagine life without some of these lifesaving drugs, or even the ones that do not save lives, just make life a little more bearable. It is likewise significant to note that animal testing has benefited animals as well. When a pet owner takes his or her animal to the veterinarian to receive shots, chances are that those shots

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