These animals are basically used for two things: scientific research and product testing. Scientific research experiments may consist of testing a new drug on animals to find if it is safe for humans, purposefully infecting an animal with a disease to either find new treatments for that disease or just to observe how the disease affects the animal, experimenting with new surgery or medical techniques, or subjecting the animal to certain traumatizing conditions and studying the animal's psychological and behavioral patterns during and/or afterwards (Lee 18-29).
Many people are strongly opposed to using animals in research. Such groups as the National Anti-Vivisection Society (NAVS) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) are gathering more and more supporters who congregate and protest the cruel and unusual torture that some animals must go through. Conversely, there are numerous people who are fervently in favor of using animals for scientific research. There are three key arguments that are constantly being debated between these two groups of people. These arguments are: whether or not animal experimentation for scientific research is ethical, whether or not it is accurate, and whether or not it is necessary. Those who promote the use of animals for experimentation argue that sacrificing animals to benefit human health is completely ethical because a human life is of higher value than that of an animal, because humans can "think, solve problems, and change their environment more than any other species on earth (Lee 23)." However, those who are against using animals in experiments claim that it doesn't matter whether or not animals are not as intelligent as humans because all lives are sacred. Animals can still feel pain, fear, excitement, and satisfaction. Animals should not be viewed as objects put on the earth for the sole purpose of providing us with resources, but should be viewed as "fellow living creatures who share our planet (NAVS).