Animal experimentation is a waste of time, money and resources. Each year, millions of animals are tortured, mutilated, and infected with painful diseases in research laboratories until they die. This research method has been commonly used since the nineteenth century (Animal Testing Timeline), but over time this practice has become less popular in America, partially due to the fact that most of the results from animal testing are not successful in humans. Speakingofresearch.com reported that more than 1,000,000 animals were used for testing in 2010, compared to 2014 where only a little bit over 800,000 animals were utilized (US Statistics). Some people may argue that animal experimentation is a good research method because there are animals that share up to 99% of our DNA, and it also helps, to ensure the safety of drugs, but the truth is that the majority of animal experiments are unreliable, unnecessary and expensive, are atrociously cruel to animals and there are new and effective non-animal research methods which could be used.
Animal experimentation is unreliable to humans. Mice, rabbits, monkeys, guinea pigs, cats, and dogs are the animals most commonly used for experimentation. Interestingly, studies have found how non-accurate these test are when the results are applied in humans. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported that 92 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal tests fail in humans (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). The reason for that is very simple, animals and humans have great differences in biology and genetics. Mice, for example, have millions of genetic differences between their own species, consequently, the test results vary from mouse to mouse. These results are so diverse, that it is almost impossible to find one that works in humans. When trying to find cures for diseases, or the effects of certain drug, researchers perform the experiments by injecting the infection, or drug into the animal's body.
