Word Clouds

I made two word clouds using two different websites that have different opinions about animal experimentation. These word clouds were both made at Wordle <http://www.wordle.net/>

The first word cloud I'd like to show you is this one.

If a word is emphasized, that means the word is used frequently in the article that I used to make the word cloud. In this case the word "research" is emphasized. This article I used to create a word cloud was from website that supports animal experimentation, Pro-Test. They are claiming that animal experimentation is necessary for medical improvement and that they are using a minimum amount of animals.

Pro-Test, . "Benefits of Animal Research." Pro-test. Pro-Test, 2006. Web. 14 Jun 2012. http://www.pro-test.org.uk/facts.php?lt=c.

The next word cloud is from a website that despises any kind of cruelty towards animals. You might have heard of this organization if you are interested in this topic, PETA. Unlike the word cloud above, this one contains lots of negative words, such as, suffer, fear, cruel, pain, blood, and etc. They feel any kind of experiment on animals are cruel and should be forbidden.

PETA, . "Animal Used for Experimentation." Peta. PETA, 2012. Web. 14 Jun 2012. http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/default2.aspx

What is AWA?

In one of my previous questions, there was a question said, "what is AWA?". Now I'm going to explain what AWA is. First of all, AWA stands for Animal Welfare Act and this protects certain animals in certain facilities. The AWA is a federal law that was passed in 1966. It empowers the Animal Care program of the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to issue licenses and adopt and enforce regulations. The AWA applies to facilities that breed animals for commercial sale, use animals in research, transport animal commercially, or publicly exhibit animals. (Including zoos, aquariums, research facilities, puppy mills, animal dealers, and circuses.) The regulations adopted under the AWA establish minimum care standards for animals in these facilities. (Including adequate housing, handling, sanitation, nutrition, water, veterinary care and protection from extreme weather and temperatures.) “Any live or dead dog, cat, monkey (nonhuman primate mammal), guinea pig, hamster, rabbit, or such other warmblooded animal, as the Secretary may determine is being used, or is intended for use, for research, testing, experimentation, or exhibition purposes, or as a pet.” according to the legal definition of the AWA. On the other hand, The AWA has exclusions for birds, rats, mice used in research. This is because 95% of the animals used in research are mice and rats and because the nine billion land animals slaughtered for food in the US every year are exempted, the vast majority of animals used by humans are excluded from the AWA’s protection.

Ansering one of my questions

I’d like to answer one of the questions which I posted previously. The question was “Are there any religious reasons why they shouldn’t do experiments on animals?”. I will be writing about the relations between the different beliefs towards animal experiments and religion.

Let’s start off with Buddhism. Buddhists think that lives of human and non-human should be treated equally. This comes from the perspective that a soul may be reborn either in a human body or in the body of a non-human animal and, therefore, animals should not be killed. Though Buddhists feel it is morally wrong to do experiments on animals if there is any harm to the animal, they also understand that experiments are beneficial for human health, so they accept animal experiments in cases such as 1) if it is for a good purpose, 2) if it is only on animals where there is no alternative, 3) design the experiment to do as little harm as possible, 4) avoid killing the animal unless it is absolutely necessary, 5) treat the animals concerned kindly and respectfully.

Jews have a similar way of thinking towards animals. Animals are part of God’s creation and should be treated with compassion. They accept experiments on animals in conditions when 1) there is a real possibility of a benefit to human beings, 2) There is no unnecessary pain involved.

On the other hand, Christians think that human beings are greatly superior to animals and people could harm them as badly as people wanted to. (Modern Christians are not so brutal minded) They think that animals don’t have any pain, or if they did it is not as bad as we humans feel and because animals are less important than human beings, it is natural to think that animals should be used in experiments for our benefits.

While Buddhist are more friendly and Christians are more heartless towards animals, Muslims have a sort of mixture of the previous two religions. They say to treat animals with kindness and compassion, and at the same time, they also say that animals exist for the benefit of human beings. Animals should not be treated badly, but they could be used for human benefit.

From what I researched there aren’t religions that forbid animal experiments, they consider it OK if there is little harm to the animal.


BBC, . "Ethics Guid." Animal ethics. BBC, 2012. Web. 7 Jun 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/>.

useful website

This is a useful website I found. There's articles about animals rights so that you could know what's going on in the world right now.
Vivisection, Factory farming, Animal Rights Myths, Wild life and so on..

. "Animal Rights." The new york times company. About.com, 2012. Web. 31 May 2012. <http://animalrights.about.com/>.

15 questions about animal experiments

1) Why is it nesessary to do experiments on animals?
2) Are there any countries that forbid experiments on animals?
3) Are there any religious reasons why they shouldn't do experiments on animals?
4) What kind of experiments do they do?
5) Are there any groups/authorities that try to stop these experiments?
6) What kind of animals are mainly used in experiments?
7) Where do they get these animals?
8) What do people working at these laboratories feel/think when doing experiments?
9) Do they use anesthesia before doing an experiment?
10) What do they do with the animals after used in a experiment?
11) Without animals to do experiments on, can people make new medicines?
12) Which country has the most animal useage in experiments?
13) Do animals show any special behaviour patterns before thery get tested?
14) Are there any groups/authorities that support animal experiments?
15) Are there any companies that guarantee they don't use animals in developing products?

website

I personally, didn't like this web page. It has too many harsh pictures and you can't concentrate on the actual context of the site. "Animal Testing." . N.p., n.d. Web. 24 May 2012. .

useful website

This web page would be useful in doing some reaserch on animal experiments. There are many facts and information about experiments done on animals and oppinions from both sides. BBC, . "Animal Experimentation." Bbc: Ethics guide. BBC, 2011. Web. 24 May 2012. .