Isla Wins this Year’s Public Speaking Competition

This year’s LSP Public Speaking Competition took place at the Academy on Tuesday 3rd March, where twelve Year 8 students from across the LSP gathered to present their final speeches to Mr Patel.  Students were judged on the quality of their content, delivery and organisation of information. 

Every speech was of excellent quality, showcasing the talent and intelligence of all of the students.  The winner of the competition was the Academy’s very own, Isla, who gave a moving and important speech on animal testing. 

We want to say a massive congratulations to every student who participated, we couldn’t be prouder of the quality of speeches given. 

You can read Isla’s winning speech in full below: 

When I was younger I imagined animal testing as applying makeup products on an animal in a way which was not harmful. I now understand, as I have grown older that this is in fact not the case. And I know others still believe this. I am here to help develop your understanding on what it really is, the faults, the uses, the regulations and the strong ethical debate. I want to show you how and why I believe we need a change. 

Picture this, you have no known family and you have grown up in a lab. You believe these people around you are nice, but you can never be too sure. Then just when you are finally beginning to trust them, they apply chemicals and surgery onto your skin which you may not consent to as you cannot speak. Would you like that?  I most certainly would not. And after all of that, you are likely to experience psychological or physical suffering. If you believe this is unfair please raise your hand. This is what happens during animal testing, and if you believe this is unfair to us then it is clearly unfair to animals. We are the problem, not them.

For you to understand fully, I must mention a few things. In the UK, animal testing is legal. However, it is strictly regulated under the Animals Scientific Act in 1986. These regulations focus on minimizing harm through principles such as the 3rs. These are Replacement, Reduction and refinement. Replacement means to avoid or replace the use of live animals, Reduction is reducing the quantity of animals used and refinement is minimizing the pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm that research animals may experience. Even though it is regulated, it is often unsafe.

There are multiple different purposes within animal testing but every single one of them are for us. This is a clear pattern. These include: to gain biological knowledge, to understand diseases, to develop treatments and to ensure product safety. We are selfish. Only one of these things we actually need, which is to develop treatments. And even then we can use other methods such as human volunteer studies which feature volunteers being given an extremely safe dosage of a drug. This is why we should consider the alternative methods to animal testing.

Another pattern I have spotted is that as soon as humans are brought into the picture, it is created more safely. The thought of humans being harmed seems wrong but then again if it is animals it is..ok? We are not the only living thing on this planet. We are not the only thing that matters. I care about animals. I care about animal's rights. I care. And you should too. Thank you.