Animal Testing

 Civic engagement to me means Civic engagement means taking action in your community. It is a duty in which we as citizens should take part in being an active member of the community. It is also described in many other ways. 

"Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes." (nytimes) 

"Individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern. Civic engagement can take many forms, from individual voluntarism to organizational involvement to electoral participation. It can include efforts to directly address an issue, work with others in a community to solve a problem or interact with the institutions of representative democracy." (apa.org) 

All in all, civic engagement plays a vital role in social issues affecting communities. 

One of the major social issues effecting my community is animal testing. Animal testing is a science experiment that animals are subjected to in hopes of advancing science or testing products safe for humans.  

I believe that many of the everyday products that people use are linked to animal testing. People in the community are using these products and not aware of the animal testing that went into making the product. I want to raise awareness of the abuse inflicted on animals to deem a product safe for human consumption or use. I am going to expose those companies who are abusing animals for their research. The sad truth is that there are alternatives to animal testing. But why aren't companies moving towards those alternatives? According to Peta.com scientist have already cured mice from cancer but have yet to cure cancer in humans. For example, according to former National Cancer Institute Director Dr. Richard Klausner, “We have cured mice of cancer for decades, and it simply didn’t work in humans.” If this was found to be true, then why the need to keep testing on mice? Peta makes a good point in saying that animals and humans differ from one another biologically which makes it highly unlikely that results from these experiments can be applied to humans in the same way. According to Kathrin Herrmann and Kimberley Jayne authors of Animal Experimentation: Working Towards a Paradigm Change, there needs to be a shift in the current scientific paradigm. “The most common justification for using animals is the apparent need to test a substance or idea in a “complex, whole being” before there is enough confidence that it can be tested safely in humans.” (Herrmann and Jayne) 

 

This issue affects me because I am an animal lover and I also own pets of my own. I was very shocked to find out that a lot of the products I use in my house are associated with animal testing. By buying the products I feel I am condoning the abuse of the animals since I purchased the product. I choose to address this topic because I feel that many people including myself are not aware of what we are supporting in purchasing the products we do. I think if people are more aware of what the companies are doing to these animals, they would not want to support them. Most of everyone in my community has a pet or an animal lover so bringing this issue to light will hopefully cause a change in my community. I will not only show people which companies participate in animal testing but show the companies who do not test on animals. I had the chance to spread some awareness to friends and family and here was there responses on the issue.

" Animal testing is cruel and inhumane. Animals are innocent! They have rights and should not be an experiment!" - Vanessa P. 

"Animal testing needs to be a thing of the past. Change needs to happen now!" - Armando C. 

"  We need to conscious of the companies we support by buying their products. If we want to stop animal testing we need to stop buying from the companies that test on animals. Animals are meant to be locked in cages and used our disposal." - Gabriel I.

References 

Herrmann, Kathrin. Animal Experimentation: Working towards a Paradigm Change. Leiden ; Boston: Brill, 2019. Human-animal Studies, VOLUME 22. Web.

https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/