The Necessity of Animal Experimentation
             For the past few decades, there has been a heated debate on the topic of animal rights. Many different opinions have been expressed supporting and opposing the use of animals in laboratory experiments. On one side, scientists and researchers believe that animal testing is necessary to maintain our society's well being. On the other side, the animal rights activists believe that animal testing should be banned and that all captive animals should be set free. Activists, such as Ingrid Newkirk, think that scientists should use alternative methods to conduct research rather than subjecting animals to often cruel experiments. The problem with this, however, is that the alternatives aren't always as beneficial as using live animals. Further animal research is necessary to continue to improve the well being of human lives and cannot be completely replaced by any alternative.
             Animal research is an integral part of today's society when it comes to the issue of human health. Using animal experimentation, scientists have discovered vaccines for illnesses such as polio, mumps, measles, and smallpox. Control over these diseases would have been impossible without the use of animal experimentation. Doctors would also not be able to use techniques such as open-heart surgery, brain surgery, and coronary bypass surgery without having first tested them on animals. The list goes on about medical advances that required animal research. Insulin, a drug used to control diabetes, and other medications used in the management of asthma and arthritis also came from animal testing.
             Not only does animal testing aid in controlling physical ailments, but also in psychological illnesses as well. Frederick A. King, a neuroscientist from Emory University, believes animal research to be an essential part of psychological research. He thinks that since it's necessary to "make inferenc...