Senior student signature series

Yahayra Sanchez next author in 2016-2017 MLHS senior student editorial series

* The 2016-2017 senior student signature series features area senior class students – and their own “signature” outlooks on a topic of their choice. A new outlook will be posted on Cross-Counties Connect each Friday. The series opens with point of view comments by seniors from Mountain Lake Public High School (MLHS). The opinions can be found by clicking on the Family & Faith link on the website’s header, and scrolling down to, and clicking on, Outlook.  Their teachers are Brenda Feil, Kim Syverson and Debby Jass.
YAHAYRA SANCHEZ

 

Finding Cures and Saving Lives

Imagine not being able to receive medicine when a loved one is sick. That would be devastating, right? As a result vivisection has allowed us to treat the sick and prevent diseases from happening again. These are the pros of vivisection, and I am pro-test because of animal experimentation scientists have made such huge advancements in the medical world.

Doctors and scientists now comprehend so much more than they did years ago because of vivisection. Vivisection is experimentation on live animals used for scientific purposes, or animal experimentation. This can include injecting diseases, testing acute amounts of lethal dosage, and analyzing cosmetics. According to Pro-test.org, scientists have made huge advancements in antibiotics, blood transfusions, dialysis, chemotherapy, and vaccinations all thanks to animals. I am glad that scientists are testing animals instead of actual human beings. Yes, animals are being experimented on, but at the same time, scientists are discovering medicine for animals, which in sum benefit both animals and humans.

Thanks to animal research, diseases that have killed millions of people are now either treatable or have been eradicated. Animals offer us so much more than just companionship. Thanks to them, scientists have made medication that can help us get through the day in the form of injections for arthritis, osteoporosis, and for knee pain. In return, some animals also receive these injections. Another advantage of animal testing is developing treatments for serious conditions like kidney failure. After my grandma’s kidneys failed, she had to have peritoneal dialysis, which had been developed by testing the dialysis method on a dog. That treatment allowed me a few more precious months with my grandma. In addition to the dog helping with dialysis, scientists tested pigs to help with open heart surgery and cardiac pacemakers because of the similar anatomy. In the last thirty years, mice have revolutionized the advancements in cancer, Parkinson’s disease, cystic fibrosis, and memory loss. Thanks to vivisection, we now understand the malaria cycle, tuberculosis, typhus, polio, anthrax, polio, rubella, and so much more. In addition to benefiting humans, testing of animals helps animals obtain better health and a longer lifespan; for example, cats now have their own treatment for leukemia (feline leukemia) thanks to vivisection. Because of animal research, diseases that have killed millions of people are now either treatable or have been eradicated.

Even though many people oppose vivisection, it is safe for the animals and not as harsh as people think. The Nuffield Council of Bioethics concluded that testing animals is safe and sound, it has had great results in the past, and it can and will help scientists make future advancements. Not only that, but according to the American Physiological Society, ¨Scientists can easily control the environment around the animal (diet, temperature, lighting, etc.), which would be difficult to do for humans. However, the most important reason why animals are used is that it would be wrong to expose human beings to health risks in order to observe the course of a disease.¨

In conclusion, vivisection has played a crucial part in the advancement of the medical world. Without vivisection much of the medicine we use today would not exist, such as insulin, influenza shots, and levofloxacin, which is used to treat bronchitis and pneumonia. Serious diseases like cancer no longer claim as many lives yearly due to vivisection. I would rather risk the life of an animal instead of a human’s, and for that reason I am pro-test.

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