Guinea Pigs
Every year about seventeen million animals are used in laboratory experiments. But in many countries today, a difficult question is being asked: Do we have the right to use animals in this way?
The use of animals in medical research has many practical benefits. Animal research has enabled researchers to develop treatments for many diseases, such as heart disease and depression. It would not have been possible to develop vaccines for diseases like smallpox and polio without animal research. Any drug you take today was tried first on animals.
Future medical research is dependent on the use of animals. Which is more important: the life of a rat or that of a three–year–old child?
Medical research is also an excellent way of using unwanted animals. Last year, over twelve million animals had to be killed in animal shelters because nobody wanted them as pets.
The fact that humans benefit cannot be used to justify using animals in research anymore than it can be used to justify experimenting on other humans. Animals suffer a lot during these experiments. They are forced to live in small cages, and they may be unable to move.
Much of the research that is carried out is unnecessary anyway. Animals have the same rights as humans do– to be able to move freely and not to have pain or fear forced upon them. Researchers must find other ways of doing their research, using cell culture and computer modeling. There should be no animals in research laboratories at all.
Taken from: Interchange, Student’s Book 3
Answer these questions based on the text above.
1. How many animals are scientists used for experiments every year?
….
2. What are the main benefits of using animals for experimentation?
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3. Why were over twelve million animals killed in animal shelters last year?
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4. Why must scientists think more deeply of using animals for experiment?
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5. What are the solution mentioned in the text instead of using animals for experiment?
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6. What is the writer’s expectation in conduction research laboratories?
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7. “Do we have the right to use animals in this way?” (paragraph 1)
What does the word ‘we’ refer to?
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8. “….. They are forced to live in small cages, …. “ (paragraph 5)
The word ‘they’ refers to ….
