According to Collins, "each year over 100 million animals-including mice, rats, frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters, guinea pigs, monkeys, fish, and birds are killed in U.S. laboratories for biology lessons, medical training, curiosity-driven experimentation, and chemical, drug, food, and cosmetics testing"(1). It's hard to believe, but in the U.S, no animal experiment is illegal no matter how cruel, horrible, and irrelevant to human health. Advocates for animal rights have tried to reduce the use of animal testing due to the fact that a high percent of experimental drugs that are safe in animals fail in human clinical trials. These experiments have a negative impact on our human environment interactions with animals because animal testing is cruel and inhumane, wasteful and unreliable, and animal testing is more expensive than alternative methods. Therefore, we must respect animals. We can not respect nature, if we use animals as test subjects.
Furthermore, animal testing is cruel and inhumane. According to William, "animal welfare concerns have led to national policies and laws in the United States and other countries to ensure the most humane care and use of laboratory animals" (1). Yet, "despite the attention brought to this issue by Russell and Burch, the number of animals used in research and testing has continued to increase"(Ferdowsian 1). The increase of experiments is negative since "test medicines" that are given to animals do not always work with humans. For example, millions of mice and rats are used for experiments to find a cure for different types of cancers, yet we still do not have a cure. Another inhumane way to treat animals is by forcing them to take toxic chemicals and making them go without water or food for long periods of time. Stokes states, "animal studies that involve development of disease or toxic injury can result in significant pain and distress" (1).
