Are Beagles Comparable to Humans?

This Wednesday I participated in my first fundraising event held by Her Campus Penn State. We decided to donate all our proceeds to a non-profit organization called The Beagle Freedom Project. This organization helps dogs, specifically beagles, from being tested on in labs.

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According to beaglefreedomproject.org, “Beagles are the most popular breed for lab use because of their friendly, docile, trusting, forgiving, people-pleasing personalities. The research industry says they adapt well to living in a cage, and are inexpensive to feed. Research beagles are usually obtained directly from commercial breeders who specifically breed dogs to sell to scientific institutions.”

Many scientific studies we have seen in class have been completed with animals and it made me wonder if it was actually creating significant advances for humans. Are beagles even similar enough to humans to be an accurate description of the effects it might have? Do the beagles being tested endure the same pain as humans would while undergoing testing?

I decided to split these questions up into two separate blog posts. I will be addressing the first in this current blog.

Apparently the numbers are not too positive when it comes to the effectiveness on humans. “106,000 people die yearly from drugs tested safe on animals,” (About Beagle Freedom Project). The unreliability of experimenting on a species other than humans hoping to gain positive results is something that should not be trusted. Animal testing is a perfect example of the Texas Sharpshooter problem; specific information is being shown to the public that animal testing is helping far more humans than it is hurting them, as well as, animals.

Paradoxically “Each year, more than 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,” (Animal Experiments: Overview). This number is staggering in comparison to that of human deaths due to unanticipated outcomes of testing. There has to be another way that society can progress medically and scientifically without the cruelty of abusing various animals. Thankfully modern scientists have created new, safe ways of testing their specific product. “These modern methods include sophisticated tests using human cells and tissues (also known as in vitro methods), advanced computer-modeling techniques (often referred to as in silico models), and studies with human volunteers,” (Alternatives to Animal Testing).

Some scientists might posses this utilitarian view, but there is not enough sufficient evidence to prove that this testing is helping a majority of humanity. Is it worth taking the lives of thousands of innocent puppies to create our own happiness?

References: 

“About Beagle Freedom Project.” ARME’s Beagle Freedom Project. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.beaglefreedomproject.org/about>.

“Alternatives to Animal Testing.” PETA. PETA, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/alternatives-animal-testing/>.

“Animal Experiments: Overview.” PETA. PETA, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. <http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animals-used-experimentation-factsheets/animal-experiments-overview/>.

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