Scientific researchers use animal experimentation for biomedical and veterinary research to enhance human health and possibly the welfare of other animals. They claim that successful medical treatments including antibiotics, vaccines and other drugs have been developed with the aid of animal experiments, and such research a crucial means of investigation of and the development of treatments for serious diseases. Some organisations are completely opposed to all animal experimentation, arguing that medical advances do not justify it. It is important that the effects of drugs can assessed before clinical trials on humans begins. Provided that it is carefully controlled, I do think animal experiments for medical research are justified, as long as it is really necessary and no other type of research is possible.
             An area that I do strongly disagree with is the use of animals for testing toxicity of substances, such as cosmetics and shampoo. Public opinion is against this type of testing as it is seen as cruel and unnecessary, and many products are now sold as 'not tested on animals'. The Body Shop, a retailer of beauty products, pioneered this approach in the Eighties and many retailers followed suit.
             In Britain there is an organisation dedicated to the welfare of animals, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). There are many others, frequently supported by charitable donations, for example donkey sanctuaries and hedgehog hospitals. Some animal rights activists favour direct action, such as protests and demonstrations. Animal rights extremists have been in involved in illegal action such as arson attacks on laboratories or on the researchers themselves.
             Genetic engineering is the method of changing the inherited characteristics of an organism in a predetermined way by altering its genetic material, or deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA
             ...