If I were to create an NGO about animal testing, it would be called "Animal and Human Equality." We will deal with animal rights, especially issues related to animal testing. There are many NGOs around the world that are concerned with animals, but very few of them focus only on animal testing, so I think our group is different from many other groups in that way. Our mission is "to ensure that animals have the same right to life as humans and to realize a world where animals can live as animals do." Most of the animals used in the experiments are deprived of their freedom by humans and are killed after they have been used as tools. We don't treat humans that way, but we easily treat animals that way, and I feel it's inhumane and doesn't guarantee their rights as the same creatures. So, our goal is to eliminate such animal sacrifice and to replace animal testing with new methods. Of course, it's unrealistic and difficult to completely eliminate animal testing from the world, but if we don't move toward abolishing it, I think it will be difficult to make any further improvements.
In order to achieve this goal, there are two main things that we need to do. We first have to raise awareness of the reality of animal testing among as many people as possible. I think it's important to create a website and put all kinds of information on it, but that will only attract the attention of people who are interested in animal testing. In fact, I have found through my survey that most people are not very interested in animal testing, and very few people have much knowledge about it. Considering this, we need to conduct various forms of awareness raising activities to provide information to those who are not interested. I think the easiest way to do that is to share information on social media. Like Ralph's video, which I have used before, I think that using YouTube to inspire people and inform them about the current state of animal testing is an effective way to engage people around the world. In the same way, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are also very useful in terms of sharing information with people around the world, not only through text, but also with videos and photos. In addition to post the information there, it would be a good to mention that we are looking for members, and if they agree with our ideas and policies, they can join our group through our homepage. I also think that visiting some schools and giving lectures would be an effective way. Even if they don't get interested, I think it's very meaningful to share information about animal testing with the younger generation who often use social networking sites and who will be a part of society in the future. Another way to achieve the goal is to recommend and promote effective alternatives to institutions and organizations that conduct animal testing. Even if we attract the interest of people who don't actually do animal testing, we can't change the current situation if we don't change the consciousness of people who actually do animal testing. So, we need to show such people effective alternatives, such as in vitro tests and computer-based tests that I mentioned earlier. If those institutions agree with our explanation and switch from animal testing to other methods, we can gradually reduce the number of animals sacrificed.
To help advance the project towards this goal, we would like to fundraise, like many other NGOs. We will use the money to go to various places and tell people about the reality of animal testing.
I gave a presentation on this NGO to the class and learned how difficult it is to share my interest in this topic and make it interesting to the audience. I had made a manuscript this time, so I relied too much on that manuscript for the presentation. In the next opportunity like this, I will try to express my thoughts concisely to the audience without looking at the manuscript.
