To many people today, animals are seen as nothing more than a childhood pet, a mere source of education, or even a useless annoyance. To other people, animals are beautiful, exquisite creatures that should be protected and cherished. Recently, many animal rights activists have turned their focus to animal experimentation, which has become one of today's largest controversies.

Many animal rights activists see their fight against animal experimentation as a simple matter of moral duty, of ethics, or even of religious obligation. Tom Reagan states, "We can't justify harming or killing a human being. . .[N]either can we do so even in the case of so lowly a creature as a laboratory rat" (Reagan 39). Accepted knowledge that by nature, animals lack the same motor skills and brain power that humans are born with (37) justifies the ideas that, " It is [man's] duty to use his knowledge for the welfare of animals" (Singer 20). Statistics that seem frighteningly unreal as well as factual evidence that "[I]tems routinely are tested on animals in a variety of painful ways. . ." (ARWCC 55) only supports the activists in finding fuel for their battle with animal experimentation. For example, one

Concurrently, supporters of animal experimentation are willing to ignore the points that animal activists may make concerning research. Instead, "[t]hey point to the millions of people whose lives have been saved or improved through research on animals" (Day 14-15). The ideas of morality instilled in this group of people unmistakably differs from those of the activists in that the moral significance is put on saving human lives instead of preventing harm to animals (14). Even though claims have been made that "[w]hen bad conditions are found in a research environment, the work may be stopped" (Wood 47) researchers are still urged to conduct experimentation in vitro, using computer models and mathematical predictions (43). However, it is argued that "The congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) reported that it is not possible to make a computer program that would substitute for a living animal" (43). "Animal research proponents say that almost every major medical discovery in the last hundred years has involved experiments on animals" (Day 13) and thus, if animal experimentation was abolished, "medical progress would grind to a halt" (13) and would therefor set science back hundreds of years in advancement (13). Nonetheless, "[s]upporters of the use of animals in laboratories welcome techniques that reduce the need for animals. . ." (Wood 43). Scientists disagree with accusations that animals are treated cruelly in research environments contending that "[o]nly when the Animal Care and Use Committee is satisfied that the conditions [

Some topics in this essay:
Louisiana University, Tom Reagan, Care Committee, Rockefeller University, Assessment OTA, Test Test, animal experimentation, animal rights, animal rights activists, rights activists, people animals, singer 20, animals day, reagan 39, animal research, animal activists,