Why it's immoral to test drugs on animals?

Humans do all kinds of tests on animals as research. They think for a greater good of humanity it is imperative that animals should be treated as subjects for drug tests. Is this morally correct?

We have been testing almost all kinds of drugs on various kinds of animals ranging from rats, rabbits, cats, monkeys and so on. While these tests are sometimes harmless but most of the times turns fatal as well, killing the respective animal. Such deaths due to the introduction of lethal drugs into the bloodstream of subject animals isn't the only animal abuse there is, these are also kept in rather pathetic conditions in laboratories. Several animal rights agencies have been constantly pushing for alternate ways to be considered by the big medical and pharma companies.

Though there are laws in almost every country for protection and habitation of animals but there is not yet a specific law related to the drug test abuse of animals. This leads to widespread flouting of animal's protection laws, even trafficking at the lower level for the animals to be smuggled to the pharma companies for testing.  Most of our actions on this particular animal subjection to drug tests, leaves much to be desired. It stems from a medieval thinking that animals are somehow inferior, so it fine in case some animal species are being used as subjects for our greater good. While this mentality still remains prevalent but the increased awareness and younger population seemingly respecting the nature and its various life forms, give us hope and shows us that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

It is imperative that a similarity is drawn between humans and animals before we can proceed to find a solution to this problem, unless we come to terms that an animal's life can be as valuable if not more than a human's life, the perceptive study would be defeated. Humans would always come to the conclusion that as animals are inferior, they should be used in trials without any need for alternative solutions. This would certainly defeat the whole purpose. While human remains more equipped with intellectual capabilities, our capacity to feel pain is sometimes calculated in proportion with the intelligence which is rather unfounded and lacks any substantial proof.

The young generation should not only advocate against the abuse that animals are subjected to for clinical trials but this should be a holistic movement which should also focus on educating society that simply improving the condition of living of animals before they get slaughtered isn't good enough. We have to improve the lives of all those species we coexist with and it is not morally correct to use one for the benefit of other. So, it isn't enough just to stop animal agriculture for abusive use, but to protect and rehabilitate them sustainably.

While testing of animals is widespread in pharma and clinical industries but there has always been a debate whether testing animals and using those results to come up with a conclusion that the drug would also be effective and safe for humans is highly misguided. All drugs have to go through the human clinical trials as well before being certified safe and effective to be mass produced and consumed by normal population. The importance of animal testing to breakthroughs in medicine have been highly exaggerated and the inter-species variability is too high to draw sensible parallels.

While the moral argument might not hold in today's capitalist society where pharma companies are desperately lobbying to bulldoze such Utopian ideas, the argument that an animal trial does not guarantee if the drug can also be effectively used on humans, can start a much needed debate in the society and the medical community which hopefully reaches the lawmakers. Pharma industry must also work diligently on coming up with alternate ways to test animals without harming them or not testing animals at all if that is at all possible. Techniques such as stem cell can be revolutionary in non-animal testing of drugs and should be promoted. While the path to an animal-free drug testing, animal protection and habitation is long and hard we must keep pushing.

Conclusion:

The argument that animals are inferior to us and thus it is correct for them to be subjected to drug tests that kills them for the greater good of humans and the society smells of hypocrisy at so many levels. The intelligence of a human doesn't necessarily mean that animals can't experience the same or even greater pain and suffering. While it is essential to walk away from such hypothetical misnomers to at least be open to finding alternate ways to test the drugs. While the moral argument might not get into the heads of a sycophant society, it is the logical argument of animal tests not guaranteeing anything concrete for humans, that might help us turn the tide on this cruelty. Human must aspire to not only respect nature but coexist in harmony with all other species as well.