YES

Poor test candidates

The use of animals in experiments is both brutal and ineffective, at times ending in major failures. Many human diseases don’t occur in animals, for example schizophrenia. A large portion of the experimental drugs that are safe for and effective in animals fail to deliver desired results in humans. Of the drugs approved for human use, many end up being relabelled due to side effects that were not identified in the animal tests.

Debarpita Mandi,

Class VII, DAV Public School, Midnapore

It’s barbaric

Anyone would laugh at the idea of using humans to test potential cures for animal diseases. Then why not apply the same logic the other way round? At some point, humans may have needed animals for testing, but after so much progress in science, this should not be so. Everyone should play a part in ending it as it is one of the cruellest, most barbaric, and unnecessary forms of suffering one can subject another being to.

Tamanna Hassan,

Class XII, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Calcutta

Unable to express

Animal testing inflicts much pain on the mute creatures. Many die too. Why? Just because they cannot express their agony through words like us, when toxic stuff is injected into them. Would we want to be treated like them?

Aarav Gupta,

Class VIII, Emerald Valley Public School, Salem, Tamil Nadu

No consent taken

Both animals and human beings can feel, behave, think and experience pain. Yet when animals are used for life-threatening tests, there is no concept of informed consent. It is pure exploitation of animal rights just because they are not knowledgeable about consent.

Riddhi Deb,

Class XII, Birla High School, Calcutta

NO

R-selected species

In the labs, we experiment on R-selected species such as rabbits, rats and so on, who are not endangered and can multiply in a short time. So it does not affect their ecological role or balance. In vitro cell culture results are not that accurate either. So animal testing should not be banned.

Anamitra Sen,

First year, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, Rahara

No alternatives

Animal testing should not be banned completely. In the absence of better alternatives, it helps us acquire knowledge about the effects of drugs. But, yes, the testing should be carried out carefully so that it does not result in the death of the animals.

Rangan Banik,

Class XI, Aditya Academy Secondary, Calcutta