The Characteristics Of Non-Human Animals As Laboratory Specimens

Non-human Animals as Laboratory Specimens
In Biology, it is said that humans has a natural characteristic to consume materials and energy in able for us to pursue the various activities that we encounter in life. This is one of the characteristics that we have as living things. Humans acquire materials and energy through the consumption of food. We, however, do not naturally produce our own source of materials and energy from within us. Our species need an external source which is our environment. Throughout history, the human race learned to use a large quantity of the things that exist on this planet for the sake of survival. One of the most common examples are the animals. Aside from the fact that a large number of human beings depend on
Singer (1993), in his book “Practical Ethics”, may have enumerated a number of situations wherein animals were treated violently such us drug companies that test new shampoos and cosmetics by dripping concentrated solutions of it into the eyes of rabbits and Harlow who reared monkeys under conditions of maternal deprivation and total isolation. However, these examples does not represent the entire practice of experimenting using animals as laboratory specimens. Many scientists observe and follow guidelines in handling specimens and in using non-human animals in research. They are obliged to care for the non-human animal specimens in a manner that ensures good health. Animals must also be treated in the most humane way possible in order to minimize
However, a problem may arise when we use animals for such human activity, that is, the possibility of inflicting greater pain, endangering the lives of animals, and worst, causing them to experience death. All of these due to honest human error and imperfections. In a scientific method, after a human identifies the problem, he researches about the problem then formulates a hypothesis. A hypothesis, as some of us know, is an educated guess. It means that this is an assertion based on careful observations and on facts obtained by the human beings through research. However, we must keep in mind that despite the use of factual basis, a hypothesis remains to be a sort of prediction that needs to be validated through experiments. Humans already achieved many things in our pursuit for truth and knowledge. The continuous evolution of technology is already causing a drastic change in our way of life and on how we perceive things. In spite of this, it is widely accepted that we still know very little about everything that exist in our universe and its truth. Humans are still far from perfection. We are still guilty of committing mistakes from