The use of experimentation on animals has been around for centuries. Animal testing is used mainly for developing new drugs and vaccines for human beings. However, many drugs used for animals in veterinary medicine have also been developed by testing on animals. Animal testing has brought forth many drugs that have saved human and animal lives, but these lab animals eventually end up dying and are subjected to cruel procedures. The lab animals also live in stressful living conditions and sometimes they aren't accurate in determining how a drug will affect a human being. There are many faults to animal testing which is why we should be opposed to it.

Billions of lab animals die each year in the United States alone due to animal testing. Lab animals aren't just rats. Cats, dogs, monkeys, rabbits, and guinea pigs are all used for animal testing. Most of the tests these animals are subjected to are very painful and can cause a lot of stress on the animals. Sometimes the experiments that testers do have nothing to do with what they are researching or trying to develop.

Another downside is that the animals live in poor conditions. They are put into tiny cages and have to sleep and eat among their own feces. They get no exercise and are kept away from the other lab animals. Many times they are kept in the dark and get no sunlight. This is unhealthy and very stressful on the animals.

Lab animals are also not always a reliable source of what medicines and vaccines will do to human beings. Human body systems and animal body systems are different, so drugs will react different with each. If you have heard of a drug recall, this is because a lab animal had no ill side effects to a drug that many humans did. Also, the conditions in which the animals live in contribute to how they react to a drug. They live in unhealthy environments, so this can affect the way their bodies react to a drug.

There are thousands of reasons why animal testing is wrong. Animals cannot give their consent to be tested on, and therefore people believe it is okay to do so. Billions of animals die and results aren't always accurate. Animals testing should be done away with and new alternatives made. Hopefully with technological advances, animal testing will become a thing of the past.

It is important to keep in mind that Israel is violating international laws by retaining land that has been taken in war. In addition the everyday life of the citizens of the occupied territories is made miserable. This is done by means of checkpoints and searches just to harass the citizens there. The citizens need to show identification papers on their own territory. Israeli settlements and highways cut north and south and east and west across the West Bank. It takes hours to get to work and back home for the Palestinians. Their life is hell. Yet we support Israel with 2 billion dollars plus in aid every year. We always veto any UN resolution critical of Israel. It is not morally right.

Palestine is now divided into two by Israel. Is it possible to have a state that has another in between them? The travel between Gaza and the West Bank is strictly controlled and now even more so with Hamas in charge, with the Israelis punishing Gaza because of the election of Hamas. Bear in mind that Hamas won the last election honestly, but is denied legitimacy by the Israelis.

Israel itself started as a state on land that was conquered by them. This land was given to the Palestinians by the UN, yet Israel helped herself to additional territory. Resolutions trying to return any Arab land is vetoed by the United States The city of Jerusalem was supposed to be the capital of both an Arab and Jewish state. Every day the Israelis encroach and confiscate more of East Jerusalem. The Israelis intend to stay on the conquered land and the United States is behind these actions. Rarely does the United States ever criticize Israel. Do not the Palestinians have a right to a state of their own, with real sovereignty? The United States claims to be an honest broker, but is always leaning heavily on Israel's side.

How can the United States support a country that does not support human rights for the Palestinians? It taints our own moral standing in the world when we support a brutalization of a people.