The Secret Life of the American Lab Rat

We’ve all heard about the horrible things that have been done to animals. Organizations like PETA seem to be staging protests and sending out grizzly photos constantly. But most people don’t think of animal abuse as something that is a part of their daily lives. Unfortunately, those people are very wrong.

Before I begin, I’d like you to take a look around your house. Open up your kitchen and bathroom cupboards. Take a look at your cleaning supplies. You’ll probably see tubs, bottles and boxes of supplies, makeup, perfume, emergency supplies, pet food. And even if you didn’t realize it, chances are you also saw the results of hundreds of innocent animals’ suffering—their “secret lives” of pain and fear inside laboratories.

All around the world, there are laboratories that electrocute, maim and kill thousands of rodents, cats, primates and dogs to test their products before they sell them to consumers.  Think about the labels you saw when you looked at the products in your house. Did you see names like Mr. Clean, Clorox, and L’Oreal? How about Glad or Johnson & Johnson? These companies sometimes conduct animal testing to get their products approved for sale by the government. But not because they want to—they put hundreds of millions of dollar every year into trying to find safe, effective alternatives to animal testing. However, some animal tests are required by law or products cannot be approved. This means that even though companies try not to be cruel, sometimes they have no other choice. “Except where mandated by law, using non-animal product safety evaluations is the norm at Clorox,” Char Davis, a Customer Service representative at Clorox, said. Most other big-name brands had similar responses to questions.

Animals are also used in studies for medical purposes. Mice, rats, chimpanzees and apes are often used in studies because they have similar bodies and nervous systems to humans, or because their behavior is similar to ours. The University of Washington was recently found to have been using live ferrets to teach medical students to conduct surgical procedures, and many of the ferrets died soon after. Ironically, nearby on campus were training dummies, simulators used to help train students in the same procedures. In many cases similar to the UW scandal, thousands of lives are lost when there are alternatives available. For example, in vitro testing is an alternative to some common experiments. Also, it is possible to replicate human skin, or use some left over skin from surgeries, to do tests with chemicals on. And although rats and mice are similar to humans, sometimes they react quite differently than humans to stimulae. For example, for many years results from experiments on rodents were used to prove that tobacco did not cause cancer.

Animal abuse can seem like an unstoppable force; wherever we turn, another animal is being abused or taken advantage of. But there is still hope: the National Institute of Health recently announced that the chimpanzees in labs should be given “consideration and respect,” as they are “our closest relatives in the animal kingdom.” This marks a major change in attitude toward animals being subjected to testing. If chimpanzees get respect, maybe one day all animals will be treated as living creatures, too. However, let’s face it: the world is full of cruelty toward animals, and animal testing isn’t going anywhere as long as laws force companies to do it. But animals’ suffering doesn’t have to go on. No matter who you are, or where you live, you can help: write to your local government representatives asking for new laws to relieve lab animals’ pain and get rid of laws requiring animal tests. Choose to buy cruelty-free products, sign petitions, and support agencies like the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing. Every action you take is a step toward relief for the animals.

--Fuschia
P.S.: Animals are dying in labs every day when alternatives are available. Please write to your local officials to ban animal testing and rid the world of this out-dated and harmful practice.