Animal Experiments are Cruel

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Animal experiments are a hotly contested issue between scientists, businesses, and animal activists. The American Anti-Vivisection Society was founded in 1883 in Philadelphia to help raise awareness of animal abuse and get new laws enacted to protect them. Vivisection is when animals are operated on, typically while alive, in order for scientists to study their features, such as their nervous system. The AAVS has long been opposed to the practice and has tried several times, unsuccessfully, to outlaw the practice.

While they have failed to make vivisection illegal, the organization has won in other areas. This includes making the United States’ Department of Defense change procedures in 1973. They helped expose how beagle dogs were used to test poisonous gases for military purposes. The public outcry had been one of the largest the Department of Defense had ever seen and they were pressured into ending that animal experiment. The AAVS still operates today and is committed to ending animal abuse.