Why experiments on animals are cruel and unethical

If you want to know whether the way we treat others is morally right and ethically sound, you should ask the following simple question: Am I treating this individual the way I would like to be treated? Nobody wants to be locked up in a cage, be purposefully injured, exposed to dangerous substances, abused for “scientific” experiments and killed. Sadly that is the reality for monkeys, mice, zebra fish and pigs, which are exploited for experiments at the Erasmus Centre for Animal Experiments (EDC). Which kinds of animals are (ab)used for experiments is often not decided based on their biological similarity to humans, but on the gentleness of their nature. Therefore, very soft and defenseless animals, e.g. dog breeds such as the beagle, are used for animal experiments because they can’t really defend themselves. Furthermore, ten percent of the animals in laboratories end up not being “used” and tests on animals are far less regulated than research on humans. Researchers would never kill their human test subjects after an experiment or expose them to lethal substances in the first place, so why should it be okay to do that to other animals? All living beings want to live and not die in a lab.

Why experiments on animals are unscientific and unnecessary

We all agree that we wouldn’t want to be kept in a cage and exposed to dangerous experiments. Using animals, who feel pain and can suffer just like us humans, in our place is cruel and unethical. But what about scientific progress… isn’t it necessary to do these experiments in order to cure human diseases? No, it isn’t. In fact, animal experiments waste important time and research funds, which would be much better invested in scientific methods that create real results, which are applicable to humans. 95 percent of the potential medicines for human use, which are tested on animals and deemed safe, fail the subsequent clinical trials in humans. Meaning, you’d have a better chance at determining which medicines are safe for humans by flipping a coin. Next to that, there are more and more alternatives to the outdated research methods involving animals, such as tests with computer-simulated models of human organs.

What we demand and need your signature for

Even though the Netherlands is aiming to be a country free of the outdated, unscientific and cruel practice of animal testing by 2025, Erasmus University Rotterdam (Erasmus MC) keeps experimenting on animals. Multiple hundred thousand animals are used every year for animal experiments at universities in the Netherlands. This takes precious time and money away from effective, necessary and relevant research that could be carried out instead. Therefore, we demand that these practices be stopped immediately and that no other animal is deprived of their right to life “in the name of science”. With your signature we can show Erasmus University Rotterdam that we do not approve of the experiments and stand up for the defenseless animals they abuse.

If it was you and not them you’d want someone to speak up for you, too.