Each year, 100 million animals are killed due to animal testing worldwide. To put this into perspective, a total of 40 million people died in World War I and a total of 5 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Torture, deprivation, genetic mutation, decapitation, chemical exposure, and psychological trauma are just a few atrocities inflicted on animals in the name of science. Under the radar, labs around the world perform brutal scientific procedures on creatures without enough payoff or purpose, but it is the American society that is blinded by misleading suggestions and subjected to believe in an unjust and useless cause.  Animal experimentation is immoral and inhumane and should not be enforced due to the lack of scientific credibility seen in studies and the outrageous torture and mistreatment of test animals. Americans falsely believe that animal testing is beneficial to human health and scientific development contrary to the numerous statistical studies disproving this fact. American consumers need to reject and strongly deny testing of animals because of the meaningless deaths and lack of scientific advancements it causes.

Many people strongly support animal testing due to the supposed human benefits. Shocking and horrific statistical evidence that is overlooked by American society reveals the numerous adverse effects of animal testing on not only animals, but humans. Extensive research and costly tests have proven that animal DNA and biology is not similar enough to human biology for animal testing to be significantly effective. According to the Humane Society International, “...nine out of every 10 candidate medicines that appear safe and effective in animal studies fail when given to humans.” Since the overwhelming majority of animal tests brutally fail, the overwhelming amount of lives, money, and energy put into these processes result in being wasteful and meaningless. According to Kathy Archibald, Hormone Replacement therapy was prescribed to millions of women due to the success of lowering heart disease and stroke rates in monkeys seen in labs, but the therapy “...caused 20,000 cases of breast cancer over the past decade in Britain, in addition to many thousands of heart attacks and strokes.” The flabbergasting false information derived from these tests clearly indicate all the reason to end lab tests on animals. Not only do they harm animals, but they also subject humans to further strife. For example, according to The Ecologist, “Cigarette smoke, asbestos, arsenic, benzene, alcohol and glass ?bres are all safe to ingest, according to animal studies.” Animal testing is antiquated and should stay in the past. Although it has been used for centuries, modern day technology surpasses the outdated methods used in animal testing that fail to provide important scientific progress to benefit humans. According to the British Medical Journal, “The claim that animal experimentation is essential to medical development is not supported by proper, scientific evidence but by opinion and anecdote.” Animal tests may serve as a crutch in regards to human safety of products, but the countless number of innocent American consumers suffering from the mindless use of animal testing reveals the urgent need to eradicate these outdated techniques.

Animal testing violates many American principles and standards and should not be condoned by our nation’s public. Well known companies in the cosmetic industry such as Avon and Revlon are popular and positively received by the majority of American shoppers, but behind closed doors, atrocities take place without public recognition. According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, labs still barbarically test drugs on animals even though “...U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) admits that 92 percent of all drugs that are shown to be safe and effective in animal tests fail or cause harm in human trials.” Despite the ineffectiveness and available alternatives to these procedures, some of the most successful businesses in America inflict pain on living creatures like having them “...force-fed massive quantities of Merck’s experimental drugs” or “...breathe either diesel engine exhaust or cigarette smoke for six hours a day, seven days a week, for two years...” Most Americans are oblivious to the cruelties happening behind closed doors, and what would normally be considered a federal crime for animal abuse simply becomes overlooked because these tests are seen as economically or financially beneficial. America is not a country of senseless and inhumane scientists, but a nation of conscious consumers who care about what they endorse. It is morally unacceptable for the American people to support local corporations that inflict pain on primates causing them to be “...driven mad by psychological trauma” and “...pull out their own hair, and chew on their own flesh.” America stands for freedom, opportunity, and equality. Support of laboratory testing does not honor these American qualities and contradicts some of the essential beliefs of this country.

American culture has unknowingly been centered upon animal testing in exchange for human enjoyment of different products like makeup and cosmetics. Although it is important to test animals when vital to human medical development, the likelihood of these tests being reliable and applicable to humans is very slim due to the statistics showing significant incongruities between the different DNA and biology between people and animals. The uselessness and ineffectiveness of animal testing makes one wonder why the continued slaughter of hundreds of millions of animals is not being stopped. If scientific breakthroughs were being discovered in exchange for a few tests on rats, then experimentation would be somewhat justifiable and moral, but the sheer absence of facts showing effectiveness of testing truly reveals the illogical nature of these procedures. It is important to spread awareness about the little known effectiveness of animal experimentation and the lack of human benefit from the inhumane processes. Americans should stand up against the animal welfare injustices of this country and hear the loud cries of those without a voice.