Animal Testing is Wrong Essay Example for Free

Animal Testing is Wrong Essay Animal testing is cruel and inhuman! It is morally wrong to toture animals for our own benefit. Over 3 million animals have been tormented all in the name of research. It has been found that only 5-25% of side effects caused by medicines are accurately predicted. This leads me to wonder what is actually being gained by animal experimentation. It’s bad science! The Food and Drug Administration reported that 92 out of every 100 drugs that pass animal tests fail on humans, making it wasteful. In recent years there has been the recognition that animals rarely serve as good models for the human body. Animal experiments prolong the suffering of people waiting for effective cures by misleading experimenters and squandering precious money, time, and resources that could have been spent on human-relevant research. In the name of science, animal experiments globally are around 100 million experiments each year. Cats, dogs, rabbits, mice and other animals, no different to those we have as pets, are used in experiments. Animals are force-fed harmful substances, infected with lethal viruses, subjected to brain damage, heart attacks, stokes, cancers and ultimately killed. Several cosmetic tests commonly performed on mice, rats, rabbits, and guinea pigs include:skin and eye irritation tests where chemicals are rubbed on shaved skin or dripped into the eyes without any pain relief. repeated force-feeding studies that last weeks or months, to look for signs of general illness or specific health hazards. widely condemned â€Å"lethal dose† tests, where animals are forced to swallow large amounts of a test chemical to determine what dose causes death. The fact that animals are used to study pain, depression, anxiety, and to test pain-killing drugs for human use, demonstrates that scientists recognize that animals are capable of suffering in many ways just like humans, but these sentient animals are unable to give their consent to participate in research. The fact that animals can suffer and experience pain is sufficient reason to refrain on moral grounds from harming them. Beyond pain, there is also persuasive evidence that animals, in particular mammals and birds, have thoughts, intentions, and memories. This means they can be harmed by confinement, frustration, fear, isolation, and loss of life experiences unavoidable for animals confined in Laboratories and used in experiments. The measurement of stress hormones, and presence of ulcers, immune suppression, abnormal behavior and brain dysfunction in laboratory animals, provide further evidence that animals commonly used in labs do suffer pain and distress. Some people claim that because animals do not have duties or responsibilities in the way humans do, they are not deserving of the same protection. However, some humans have no responsibilities or duties, such as babies, the mentally ill, or very infirm, yet they are not stripped of their rights in this way. Indeed, such individuals are usually considered more deserving of protection, not less. Others argue that the potential benefit to human society justifies experiments on animals. However this argument is a slippery slope, as this reasoning would also justify experiments on a few non-consenting humans for the ultimate benefit of human society a clearly unethical scenario. â€Å"If we didn’t use animals, we’d have to test new drugs on people. † The fact is that we already do test new drugs on people. No matter how many animal tests are undertaken, someone will always be the first human to be tested on. Because animal tests are so unreliable, they make those human trials all the more risky. What I have to wonder is why do we test on animals, or feel the need to have people volunteer for something potential dangerous with its unknown side effects when we have child molesters, rapists, and murderers in prison who are catered to three meals a day? I believe we should enact instead of animal testing, (which has been proven to be highly ineffective) testing on convicted criminals on death row, or prisoners looking to cut down some time in exchange for experimentation and observation.

The Role Of Dreams Essay -- essays research papers

Are dreams a source of reliable divination? Generations upon generations seem to have thought so. They incubated dreams by travelling afar, by fasting and by engaging in all other manners of self deprivation or intoxication. With the exception of this highly dubious role, dreams do seem to have three important functions: a. To process repressed emotions (wishes, in Freud's speech) and other mental content which was suppressed and stored in the unconscious. b. To order, classify and, generally, to pigeonhole conscious experiences of the day or days preceding the dreaming ("day residues"). A partial overlap with the former function is inevitable: some sensory input is immediately relegated to the darker and dimmer kingdoms of the subconscious and unconscious without being consciously processed at all. c. To "stay in touch" with the outside world. External sensory input is interpreted by the dream and represented in its unique language of symbols and disjunction. Research has shown this to be a rare event, independent of the timing of the stimuli: during sleep or immediately prior to it. Still, when it does happen, it seems that even when the interpretation is dead wrong – the substantial information is preserved. A collapsing bedpost (as in Maury's famous dream) will become a French guillotine, for instance. The message conserved: there is physical danger to the neck and head. All three functions are part of a much larger one: The continuous adjustment of the model one has of one's self and of one's place in the world – to the incessant stream of sensory (external) input and of mental (internal) input. This "model modification" is carried out through an intricate, symbol laden, dialogue between the dreamer and himself. It probably also has therapeutic side benefits. It would be an over-simplification to say that the dream carries messages (even if we were to limit it to correspondence with one's self). The dream does not seem to be in a position of privileged knowledge. The dream functions more like a good friend would: listening, advising, sharing experiences, providing access to remote territories of the mind, putting events in perspective and in proportion and provoking. It, thus, induces relaxation and acceptance and a better functioning of the "client". It does so, mostly, by analysing discrepancies and incompatibilities. No wonder that i... ...d to one tenth their size without appreciably losing information. The same principle is applied in speed reading – skimming the unnecessary bits, getting straight to the point. The dream employs the same principles: it skims, it gets straight to the point and from it – to yet another point. This creates the sensation of being erratic, of abruptness, of the absence of spatial or temporal logic, of purposelessness. But this all serves the same purpose: to succeed to finish the Herculean task of refitting the model of the Self and of the World in one night. Thus, the selection of visuals, symbols, and collective symbols and of the discontinuous mode of presentation, their preference over alternative methods of representation is not accidental. This is the most economic and unambiguous way of representation and, therefore, the most efficient and the most in compliance with the four principles. In cultures and societies, where the mass of information to be processed is less mountainous – these features are less likely to occur and indeed, they don't. Sources Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites found at www.geocities.com/vaksam

NTUC Management Restructuring

NTUC Chief Lim Boon Heng has urged the management of companies undergoing restructuring to take union leaders into confidence, so that the legitimate concerns of workers can be addressed in good time. Citing the restructuring of the Public Utilities Board as an example, he said the exercise was carried out smoothly because of the close cooperation between the management and the union. Speaking at the first triennial delegates conference of the Union of Power and Gas Employees (UPAGE), Mr Lim said that companies responded to challenges in various ways – some through restructuring to meet new market demands, and others through mergers. For wokers, these changes can be unsettling, and restructuring sometimes leads to retrenchments. But in the case of Singapore Power's restructuring, the NTUC Chief noted that the PUB management had taken the company's union leaders into confidence even before the news was made public; it showed that openess between management and union was the better policy. â€Å"When management are open with the union leaders, the legitimate concerns of workers can be addressed, leading to a smooth transition,† Mr Lim said. Unfortunately for us, there are many management that adopt a different approach, informing the union only at the last moment, giving union leaders little time to respond and no time to address workers concerns. † Mr Lim also announced that the union's present general secretary, Nithinandhan, would now become its executive secretary, so that he could represent workers from all unions formed under Singapore Power or its subsidiary companies. We made some changes to our constitution handing the powers to the executive secretary to deal with all collective agreements, and to negotiate on behalf of major grievances with management and be the main person corresponding with all employers and external agencies and work out policies for all branches on industrial relations,† Mr Nithinandhan said. He said the union's relations with the management had been excellent and plans were underway for joint committees on training and workplace environment to better look into the needs of workers.

Killer Instincts in Oscar Wildes Novel, The Picture of...

â€Å"When one is in love, one always begins by deceiving one’s self, and one always ends by deceiving others,† (Wilde 46). Dorian Gray deceives himself by not knowing he is in love, and ends by showing everyone his most horrible traits. In his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde talks about Dorian Gray, an innocent, beautiful young man who does not understand the power of his own beauty. Basil Hallward, an artist, discovers Dorian and paints a magnificent portrait of him. When one of Basil’s friends Lord Henry advises Dorian of his divine beauty and youth, Dorian wishes for the portrait to age instead of him. This idea creates a storyline for the novel, as Dorian spends more time with Lord Henry, who influences his views. These ideas lead Dorian into embarking on bad endeavors. Throughout the book, these deeds end up with Dorian killing many things. In the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, the author Oscar Wilde shows how â€Å"each man kills the th ing he loves†, only if the thing he loves brings out the worst in himself. Dorian Gray realizes his hatred for the painter of his portrait Basil Hallward, and decides to kill him. After a long time away, Basil decides to visit Dorian at his home. Basil talks to Dorian about all the rumors he has heard against him and has come to confront him about them. In a heated conversation, Basil asks Dorian to see his soul, and Dorian decides to show him the portrait, as it is essentially his soul. Dorian believes that, â€Å"the man who