[Letters] Animal testing cannot be justified

Animal testing is immoral and cruel and is no different than murder. Humans, without hesitating, perform different experiments on them repeatedly. Such tests, causing horrific suffering to animals, are conducted for the benefit of human beings.

The animal testing is invalid in that it does not take into account the biological and psychological differences between animals and human beings. What may be safe and applicable to animals may not be the same to the humans and vice versa. According to an article released by Young People’s Trust for the Environment, a U.K.-based charity group, an expert vivisector has provided several examples showing the misleading results of animal testing. For instance, parsley is poisonous to parrots and lemon juice is poisonous to cats, while opium causes no problems for hedgehogs and arsenic, a poison to humans, is harmless to sheep.

Alternative options to animal testing provide better results. Of course, experts argue that there is no real substitute as accurate as animal testing. The recent developments, however, have proven that tests on human cells and tissues result in more accurate results than those done on animals. According to the National Institute of Health, more than 80 HIV/AIDS vaccines that have passed animal testing have failed in human clinical trials. Instead, studies done on humans using scanning technology have successfully produced valid outcomes. Humans can not decide animals’ fate for their own benefit.

Choi Eun-ho, a student at Dongguk University, Seoul