Alternatives to Animal Testing

Last week, I discussed the positive impact one can make in order to bring animal testing to an end. I mentioned last week that the more we continue to purchase the products that test on animals, the more animals are going to be tested on. Ultimately, the only way to help end this issue is to make an effort to stop purchasing from companies that test on animals.

If companies are losing profit due to their participation in animal testing, they wil reevaluate what they are doing in order to start gaining a profit again. 

This week, I will be discussing some of the alternatives to animal testing. I will also be asking those in my life to review my website to gain more perspective on this issue as well as to spread this issue with my personal community. 

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However, before we fully dive into this week, I want to give an insight on myself regarding this issue. In my first year of college, I was taking a persuasive argumentative class. We were able to choose what we wanted to argue, so one of my classmates did their presentation on animal testing and how it is unethical.

Since then, I have been very interested in becoming more aware of the products I do purchase. Since I didn't know too much on this topic, I decided to take this project as a way to learn more about animal testing. Is it necessary? Is there a difference in the quality of products that test on animals compared to those that don't? If there are alternatives to animal testing, why do companies continue to tortue animals?

From conducting my own research on this subject these past four weeks, I have really been able to engage the severity of animal testing. I've been able to answer the mental questions I've been asking myself about this issue at hand the past four weeks and I've been able to analyze and determine alternatives to animal testing.

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Animal Testing Alternatives

The National Anti-Vivisection Society states that the alternatives to animal testing are often methods to replace, reduce, and refine animal testing as a means to limit the amount of animals that are tortured for our products that allow us to feel beautiful (The National Anti-Vivisection Society, 2020). According to NAVS, there are three alternatives that can occur for animal testing: in-vitro, ex-vivo, or in silico (The National Anti-Vivisection Society, 2020). 

According to Elizabeth Boskey from VeryWellHealth, “in-vitro, comes from the Latin term ‘in glass,’” (Boskey, 2009) which means that in-vitro testing are done in a test tube rather than on a human or on an animal. The picture to the left is not mine; it was taken from the Elizabeth Boskey's article (Boskey, 2009). In-vitro testing allows, "scientists to isolate specific cells, bacteria, and viruses and study them," (Boskey, 2009). However, studies have shown that in vitro testing is not as accurate when it comes to humans because humans are far different than glass test tubes.

Alternatively, ex-vivo means, “outside of the living body,” (Bioalternatives, 2019) which means that, “the living tissues are not created artificially but directly taken from a living organism,” (Bioalternatives, 2019). According to the Bioalternatives, the ex-vivo tests can be, "more accurate in representing human skin," (Bioalternatives, 2019).

Another alternative is silico testing. According to Ansys, silico testing, "involves virtual investigation with computer models to complement and accelerate ex-vivo and in-vitro practices,"  (Ansys, 2019). The picture to the right is not mine, it was taken from Athens State University's website.

My Proposal to an Alternative of Animal Testing

Many companies believe that the use of animals provides their company with a secure and liable results against people who have had a bad reaction to the products. However, some people believe that testing on animals is the best practice in order to get the closest accuracy to humans.

I believe that instead of testing on animals, companies and scientists should test on humans who volunteer to be tested on. One place scientists can gather test subjects are from volunteers in prisons. In return, the prisons can gain some for of compensation for being tested on- money, visitation rights, or something else.

It would be unethical to use humans- prisoners or civilians- without their consent, so why is it okay to use animals without their consent? I believe that there are people in the world that would volunteer, not only to help animals from being tortured, but to become a valuable and helpful member to scientists and to society.

Bringing Awareness to The Issue of Animal Testing

After conducting my research over the past four weeks, I was ready to show my findings with the people in my life. Before I asked my grandparents and my boyfriend to look through my website, I had a discussion with them about animal testing beforehand.

Before looking through my website, my grandma believes that animal testing should not occur on cosmetics or cleaning products but animal testing should occur on scientific testing for our health. She believes animal testing should occur on medicine and drugs to determine if the medicine and drugs are harmful to human use and/or consumption. When my grandma selected the topic on The Types of Animal Tests, she made a comment about how she almost couldn't continue reading about the tests animals are forced to go through. After she finished reading each of my blog posts, she is more adamant that animal testing should not be included for cosmetic products.

Before I had my boyfriend or grandpa look through my website, they both believe that animal testing is wrong. They both believe that animal testing is unethical and inhumane. After my boyfriend read through my website, his beliefs that animal testing is wrong was further proven because of everything he learned that was on my website. My grandpa also further believed that animal testing is not right in regards to cosmetic testing.

Although my family already had feelings that testing on animals is wrong, this opened the conversation that there are things people can do in order to limit the amount of animals used in cosmetic testing. Since cosmetics are not an essential item in society, they believe that animals should not be harmed for people to feel beautiful.

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I called this project You're Beautiful, They're Dead, in order to show individuals are able to feel comfortable and confident with makeup, the animals that are being used or have been used are suffering and dying. It is unnecessary and unethical to put these helpless animals through torture and pain just so people are able to feel pretty.

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References

Ansys. (2019, September 23). In Silico testing. Retrieved from https://www.ansys.com/solutions/solutions-by-industry/healthcare/in-silico-testing

Bioalternatives. (2019, October 20). Difference between ex vivo & in vitro testing methods. Retrieved from https://www.bioalternatives.com/en/ex-vivo-vs-in-vitro/

Boskey, E. (2009, January 25). What in vitro means in research studies. Retrieved from https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-in-vitro-biological-3132872

The National Anti-Vivisection Society. (2020, April 17). Alternatives to animal testing. Retrieved from https://www.navs.org/what-we-do/keep-you-informed/science-corner/alternatives/alternatives-to-animal-testing/#.XqsxxC-ZNn4