The Animal Welfare Act (AWA)

Have you ever thought what goes into making your makeup, shampoo, medicine and even your toothpaste? At some point in their development these products may have been applied to the eyes and skin of live animals. Animal testing has been used as a mechanism in the advancement of cosmetics, medicine, and many everyday products (Moxley). Animal testing is a highly controversial topic that has divided people into groups that are against it or support animal testing (Klazema).
“An estimated 26 million animals are used every year in the United States for scientific and commercial testing” ProCon.org describes. Experimentation on animals has been found from as early to 500 BC. Although the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) protects many types of animals, it
To satisfy the requirements of the testing process, animals are commonly subjected to force feeding, food and water deprivation for lengthy periods of time, physical restrainment, the infliction of burns and other wounds to study the healing process or other cruel and inhumane things are done to the animals (Klazema). ProCon.org explains “the Draize eye test, used by cosmetics companies to evaluate irritation caused by shampoos and other products, involves rabbits being incapacitated in stocks with their eyelids held open by clips, sometimes for multiple days, so they cannot blink away the products being tested” (ProCon.org). Experiments that inflict pain upon animals can occur without violating any law (Klazema).
Animal testing is extremely expensive. During the testing process, the animals involved must be taken care of. This means money for food, housing and any other treatment needs. This does not include the cost for the drugs used on the animals, which likely cost thousands of dollars in scientific research money to produce. Some experiments have testing on large amounts of animals and over a long period of time, causing the bill to add up
An option instead of animal testing is vitro testing. The testing involves studying cells cultures in a petri dish. Vitro testing can produce more relevant results than ever because of the use of human cells (ProCon.org). Another option is micro-dosing, the administering of tiny doses to human volunteers. The doses are too small to cause adverse reactions, but researchers can get a good idea how humans would react to the drug without subjecting them to any risk. Another alternative to animal testing use human tissues grown in computer models that maps cellular structures and processes (Klazema).
In conclusion, animal testing is a highly controversial topic that has divided people into groups that are against it or support animal testing. Animal testing has contributed to many life saving cures and treatments. The testing has ensured cosmetics and health care products safety. Although animal testing has improved humanity, many people are against it. Animal testing is inhumane and cruel. Animals are put through suffering that is not necessary for cosmetics