years go on, these numbers grow and the killing of animals through experimentation becomes more of a common practice throughout the world. In Australia, over half of the country's population uses prescription drugs which have all been tested on animals (Vivisection, 1). Experimentation on animals, though claimed to be useful, is both cruel and inhumane.

The term vivisection means the cutting of or operation on a living organism usually for physiological or pathological investigation, commonly causing distress to the subject.

For years now, animals have been used in trying to find new cures for human diseases as well as for the testing of new products. This may seem like a good cause on the outside, provided you

In place of animal experimentation and vivisection, there are many alternatives. One main alternative is concentrating on the prevention of diseases which animals are tested for and not so much on the cure. In fact, improvements in sanitation and nutrition have contributed largely to the prevention of illnesses and even death in recent years (Frequently, 2). Other alternatives include experimenting with extracted human tissues, chromatography (the seperation of drugs at their smallest, molecular level), as well as experimentation on discarded human placentas (Vivisection, 3). All of these are safe, practical ways of testing new medicines without causing harm to anyone, including animals.

What makes these procedures even worse is that if results show that a product is potentially dangerous to humans, the product is not kept off the market, a warning label is simply slapped on the side of the container.

"In two experiments with trichloroethylene (TCE) - a chemical once used as a flavor enhancer in foods, an extraction agent in decaffeinating coffee, and as a dry-cleaning and degreasing agent-rats were given the human equivalent of 5 x 107 (or 50,000,000) cups of coffee a day. The doses used...exceeded those consumed by humans by a factor of over one million" (Fano, 75).

Extrapolation as used in animal experimentation means the use of data taken from tests on animals and assuming the data applies to humans. For example, a experimental vaccine for cancer is tested on a chimp. In this hypothetical experiment, the vaccine works. Then, it is assumed that because chimps are very similar to humans, the vaccine will not only work for humans, but will be safe for humans to use as well. This is the process of extrapolation. However, as previously mentioned, assuming that something that works on an animal will work on humans is too risky and costs the lives of the animals. There have been cases where drugs which were tested safely on animals, when tested on humans caused major side effects, including death in some instances (Central 3). These brings about another issue, validation of animal tests.

One commonly asked question when debating the topic of vivisection is whether or not animals can feel pain. For some reason this seems to be such a controversial topic surrounded by many scientific tests. These tests have concluded that certain animals can feel pain (Bateson 1). For example, it has been very hard to prove or disprove whether or not insects can feel pain since they don't have a central nervous system, but this seems insignificant in the big picture since most scientific experimentation does not take place on insects. This goes for most invert

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Approximate Word count = 1809
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)