Statistics about Pets

Introduction:

Attention capture: How many of you guys have pets: dogs, cats, rabbits, fish, just to name a few. Reason to listen: According to hsi.org, “more than 115 million animals are used in laboratories each year” and undergo horrible experimentation such as having their spinal cords crushed, exposing them to radiation, or injecting animals with large doses of harmful substances. If these acts were performed on your own pets outside of a testing facility it would be considered a crime and labeled as animal cruelty. Establish credibility: After gathering information from several articles and journals I am here to persuade you that animal testing is unethical. I have conducted majority of my research from organizations like PETA, HSI, and cruelty free international.

Preview: Today I am going to talk about why animal testing is unethical and alternatives that we can use instead. Transition: First, I will inform you about what animal testing is.

Body: First main point: What is animal testing? Subpoint: Animal testing happens mostly in settings like medical school, pharmaceutical companies, and universities where animals are captured and brought into laboratories to be experimented on. Sub-Subpoint: The organization PETA states that “more than 100 million animals….are killed in the U.S.” for testing and experimentation. PETA.org specifics that this includes “mice, rats, frogs, dogs, cats, rabbits, hamsters….” many of which we call pets. Sub-Subpoint: But instead of being properly cared for, these animals are again based off of PETA.org to be“forced to inhale toxic fumes, …some have holes drilled into their skulls...others have their skin burned off.”

These innocent animals are abused over and over again until they become too ill to be tested on resulting in death, which could of been avoided. Subpoint: Some may say that animal testing is essential for medical progress. Sub-Subpoint: Although animal testing has been used for finding cures and new medicine to treat certain diseases like smallpox, malaria, HIV, and etc in the past, according to PETA organization “currently, nine out of ten experimental drugs fail in clinical studies because we cannot accurately predict how they will behave in people based on laboratory and animal studies.” Mock diseases that are injected into animals do not react the same or even share some of the same symptoms that human experience.

Therefore many scientist have concluded that animal testing is ineffective. Sub-Subpoint: We normally take action when we hear people say the word dehumanizing but animal cruelty is the same. Animals have feelings and emotions just like humans do. They don’t deserve to be mistreated in laboratories just to fulfill our needs. Transition to second main point: Animal studies instead have slowed down medical advancements. Testing on animal is now outdated and has become a habit of ours. Second main point: We rely too heavily on animals to help us find a cure to these diseases when there are alternative methods we can turn to.

With new technology comes safer and more accurate methods. Subpoint: Harvard's Wyss’ Institution has created an organ-on-chip. Sub-Subpoint: This is a device the size of USB memory stick filled with clear flexible polymers. Inside the stick, there are microfluidic tubes lined with human cells from specific organs. When drugs, blood, nutrients, or toxins are pumped into those tubes, the cells are able to mimic major functions of living human organs such as the breathing in the lungs, deformation in the intestines, and etc.

Sub-Subpoint: In 2015, a group used the organ-on-chip “to mimic the way that endocrine cells secrete hormones into the bloodstream and used this to perform crucial tests on a diabetes drug.” Harvard's Wyss’ Institution created the organ-on-chip to replace animal testing. Subpoint: Another alternative is the use of human patient simulators.

Sub-Subpoint: Because animals are genetically different from human, it can make it difficult to find cures and treatments by testing on them. But using computerized human simulators are different. These simulates are able to breathe, bleed, and even die just like a real human being. Not only can they mimic human behavior but they are able to mimic illnesses and injuries by giving the appropriate symptoms. Sub-Subpoint: For more intense training, the TraumaMan a type of computerized human simulator that is able to mimic realistic layers of the human skin, bleeding, ribs, and even organs in the body is used for teaching surgical procedures. Studies have shown that these human simulators are more beneficial then operating directly on live animals like pigs and dogs.

From PETA.org it states that, about 97% of medical schools all over the U.S. have completely replaced animal laboratories with human patient simulators for students in training. Transition to Conclusion: There are many alternatives when it comes to medical advancement.

Conclusion:

Signal the end of your speech: As I come to an end, you can see that animal testing is not only extremely inhumane but also unnecessary and a waste of time. Summarize the main points of the speech: We know that using animals for medical experimentation is wrong and unethical so why do we still repeat the same practices over and over? Studies have shown that alternatives are just as helpful, if not even more accurate than animal testing without the need to kill millions of animals.

Close memorably: Just recently on October 4th, the biggest petition by Cruelty Free International and The Body Shop went over their goal of 8 million signatures to end cosmetic animal testing over the course of 15 months to bring their concerns to the United Nations Headquarters in New York. With this in mind I want to remind you that your vote and voice counts. I urge and encourage you all to participate in any active petitions and stand up for these innocent animals that are constantly being mistreated. To check the labels of your everyday cosmetic/cleaning supply bottles and support brands that are cruelty free.

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