Provisor-Lemery 1

Isabel Provisor-Lemery 
Kelley 
English Pre-AP Pd 8 
12/01/2017 
 
What are the pros and the cons of animal testing, are there better alternatives. Should we ban 
animal testing or keep doing it? How do people test products on animals and what for. 

Effects of Animal Testing 

More than “100 million animals” are killed every year in U.S. laboratories according the 

Peta ​ (Experiments on Animals)​. These animals are dying because of harsh chemical testings of 

drugs, foods, cosmetics, pesticides, and the list goes on. These products are being tested on 

animals to see if they will be safe for humans but according to Peta “​just because a product was 

shown to be safe in animals does not guarantee that it will be safe to use in humans” (Peta 

Animals Testing 101). So why are we killing these harmless, helpless animals when it does not 

even guarantee our safety, when there are better and less harmful alternatives.  

The animals that are being tested go through many painful experiments and more than 

often die from these awful procedures. Some examples of what some of these animals go through 

according to Peta is that “some are forced to inhale toxic fumes, others are immobilized in 

restraint devices for hours, some have holes drilled into their skulls, and others have their skin 

burned off or their spinal cords crushed” (Experiments on Animals). These animals aren't just 

going through painful, horrible experiments they are also being “socially isolated, confined to 

barren cages,[ and are being] psychologically traumatized” says (Peta Animals Testing 101). so 

these animals are being tortured not just physically but also mentally.  
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These animals are suffering and dieing for research you help us, but these experiments 

are not always accurate. According to Peta “researchers found that medical treatments developed 

in animals rarely translated to humans” (Experiments on Animals). So if we are not one hundred 

percent sure that these tests are going to perform and affect humans the same way, we should not 

be putting these animals through torture if there is not much to gain from it. Another study 

showed that “50 percent of U.S. adults oppose the use of animals in scientific research” and the 

other half is decreasing and most only believe in it for “medical progress” according to Peta 

(Experiments on Animals).  

Although there are many cons there are a few pros. Some benefits are that it sometimes 

provides cures and treatments for humans. This will benefit humans, but think about how many 

animals had to die to find one treatment when there might of been better and faster alternatives. 

Another benefit is that humans are not being tested, but this is because it would be unexeptable 

to perform all these horrible experiments on humans, but it's fine to do then on helpless animals 

that are also living creature, they just aren't as important.  

Some alternatives of animal testing according to Neavs is “i​n vitro​ (test tube) test 

methods and models based on human cell and tissue cultures, computerized patient-drug 

databases and virtual drug trials, stem cell and genetic testing methods” (Animals in Science/ 

Alternatives). The benefits of not animal testing and doing alternatives, are that they “often are 

more reliable than animal tests.”, “The use of human tissue in toxicity testing is more accurate 

than the animal models”, and they are “more cost-effective, practical, and expedient” says Neavs 

(Animals in Science/ Research). So as technology continues to improve there might even be 
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more alternatives but as of now there are already many that are more effective than actual animal 

testing.  

Animal testing has killed millions of animals but hasn't made up for it in medical finds. 

Many ‘discoveries’ have not worked in humans because humans are different from animals even 

if our DNA is somewhat similar. But with alternatives we don't have to be killing millions of 

animals and we are getting more results that are effective. With the new technology that is 

improving everyday, we could find even more ways to test products, that is safer, cheaper, and is 

not torturing and killing animals.  

 
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Work cited  

Animals in Science/ Alternatives. ​Neavs​, ​http://www.neavs.org/alternatives/in-testing​. 

Animals in Science/ Research. ​Neavs,​ ​http://www.neavs.org/research/harm-suffering​. 

Animals Testing 101. ​Peta​, 

https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animal-testing-101/​. 

Experiments on Animals: Overview. ​Peta, 

https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animals-used-experimentation-fac

tsheets/animal-experiments-overview/​. 

 
 
 
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Isabel Provisor-Lemery 
Tierney 
History Pre-AP Pd 7 
12/01/2017 
 
What category of SPRET has had the greatest impact on history. Explain why by arguing with 
specific evidence, and if explain if the impacts have been positive or negative. 
 

The Influence of Technology  

There are many things that have impacted and influenced history, but what has impacted 

it the most? There is the impact of religion, economics, political and social. Although there are 

many things that have been influential to history, technology has improved and shaped the way 

we live today. Technology has also developed through many years, with improvements, and new 

inventions that improve our day to day lives.  

Starting from the beginning, the first piece of technology, was the use of tools to help 

people hunt and make food. Next came farming, which allowed people to make permanent 

settlements and structure, so they didn't have to be nomadic. This led to city-states, religion, 

politics, social classes and economics, so without technology there wouldn't have been these 

other influential categories. 

Technology has improved since it started. People were able to make inventions like the 

wheel, imagine life without something so simple, yet so important in our daily lives. The wheel 

also led to innovations like carriages, which has now evolved into cars. Because of the creation 

of carriages, there was a need for roads. So people soon made roads that crossed miles and miles 

of land. For example in the Gupta Empire, there was a road that extended from India to China. 

The progression of roads then led to better, easier and overall more trade. People traded materials 
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like silk which became the most sought after luxury item in Eurasia, and porcelain which was 

also a valuable trade item.  

Trade eventually helped build the economy. Then inventions like paper, ink, and printing 

led to books, which helped spread ideas and information a lot faster. Other discoveries like 

chemistry led to materials like cast iron, which was used to create weapons and agricultural 

tools, which also helped the economy. Paper money is also another invention that lots of 

countries still use today.  

Other creations like the mechanical clock and the compass have helped us manage time, 

direction, and is used for astronomy. Discoveries like math and astronomy helped us realize that 

the earth was round, the length of a year, and that there were other planets in our solar system. It 

also led to the discovery of pi, and the circumference of our earth. Technology has also led to 

improvements in medicine which has saved many lives in the past and in the present.  

Technology has also shaped the way we live today and it continues to evolve and 

improve. Many forms of technology have helped improve our daily lives and we may not of even 

realized it, because it feels like such a normal thing that we have never lived without . 

Technology has had the greatest influence on history because without it we wouldn't of had 

city-states, religion, politics, social classes and economics which have also influenced history, 

and life would be completely different than how it is today.  

 
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Isabel Provisor-Lemery 
Kelley 
English Pre-AP Pd 8 
12/01/2017 
 
Think of an item of convenience but also represents waste. Plastic water bottles take up two 
million tons of space in landfills. What if we banned plastic water bottles in Austin?  

A Life Without Plastic Bottles  

Have you ever wondered what would life be like without plastic bottles? Well it might be 

a lot simpler than you would think, and it would be very beneficially. Reasons that we should 

consider banning plastic bottles is because it is affecting us humans, animals, and the 

environment, in a negative way. It might be hard to imagine life without plastic bottles because 

we use them almost everyday, but there are many alternatives, and it will overall making our 

lives better.  

One of the ways plastic bottles are harmful is because it contains a chemical called 

Bisphenol A (BPA). This chemical “has been proven to be harmfull to human health” and it has 

been “l​inked to a host of health problems”​ states One Green Planet. The BPA enters the body 

just by being exposed to “​plastics such as bottled drinks and cleaning products”, and a study 

done showed that “96% of women in the U.S have BPA in their bodies” according to One Green 

Planet.  

Another way plastic bottles are a negative factor is because it is also affecting animals. 

Animals in the ocean commonly eat the plastic trash that they find, mistaking it for food, and 

after they have eaten so much they die. One example of this happening is that an Albatross was 

“found dead on a Hawaiian island [and] had a stomach full of 119 bottle caps” according to One 
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Green Planet. Animals are also getting entangled in plastic which “makes movement, feeding 

and growth difficult or even impossible” says One Green Planet. Chemicals found in plastic 

bottles like BPA don’t just affect humans they are also affecting ocean life by causing fish to 

become “intersex” and affecting the reproduction rates in fish, says One Green Planet.  

Another problem is that people are not recycling enough. The “EPA estimates that only 

twelve percent of plastic waste gets recycled” and the plastic materials that do not end up getting 

recycled typically get sent to “landfills where they may take as many as 1,000 years to 

decompose” states One Green Planet. So plastic is only serving a purpose for a small amount of 

time and the rest it's decomposing in a landfill, and harming our environment. Plastic also needs 

oil to be produced, as well as “Petroleum and natural gas are required to manufacture plastics” 

according to One Green Planet. In the United States it takes “roughly 17 million barrels of oil” to 

produce all the water bottles we use in a year, states One green Planet. This is producing more 

fossil fuels and is worsening the effect of climate change. 

Even though it might seem challenging to not have plastic bottles, it is still duable. In fact 

San Francisco “has become the first in America to ban the sale of plastic water bottles” and “by 

2020, the city aims to have no waste going to its landfill” states Plastic Pollution Coalition (​The 

First American City to Ban Plastic Water Bottles)​. And to enforce the new rule they have set set 

up a fine “of up to $1,000” if someone violates it according to Plastic Pollution Coalition (​The 

First American City to Ban Plastic Water Bottles)​. This could be the first step and an example to 

the rest of the world of what we should be doing to limit the amount of plastic that we are using.  

Plastic bottles have caused lots of problems for humans, animals, and the environment 

but yet we still use it on an everyday basis without doing anything to limit the amount of it we 
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are using. “50 percent of the plastic on this planet is used only once before being thrown away”, 

and “enough plastic is discarded every year to circle the globe four times” according to Plastic 

Pollution Coalition (​The First American City to Ban Plastic Water Bottles)​. So if we follow the 

example that San Francisco has set and limit the amount of plastic we are using we could 

potentially live and healthier and overall better life with out mounds of plastic and chemicals 

around us.  

 
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Work Cited 

Lights, Zion. What’s the problem with plastic bottles?. ​One Green Planet,​ May 8, 2012, 

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/whats-the-problem-with-plastic-bottles/​. 

Macklin, Malorie. Is it Really Worth the Convenience? 6 Ways Plastic is Harming 

Animals, the Planet and Us. ​One Green Planet,​ April 30, 2017, 

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/how-plastic-is-harming-animals-the-planet-and-us/​. 

The First American City to Ban Plastic Water Bottles. Plastic Pollution Coalition, 

February 19, 2017, 

http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/pft/2016/2/19/the-first-american-city-to-ban-plastic-wat

er-bottles​. 

 
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Isabel Provisor-Lemery 
Gregory  
Chemistry Pd 5 
12/01/2017 
 
Write a letter to the president explaining why we should switch to the metric system or keep 
our system. Provide a justification and history of each system, including what major countries 
which system and why. 

Metric vs Imperial  

Dear Mr. President, 

The metric system is used all over the world, but the United States is one of the few 

countries left to use the Imperial system. To some this might seem like a disadvantage and there 

are reasons to back that up. The Imperial system is already set in place and is used in our 

everyday lives. So to change to the metric system would take the country back a step, because it 

would cost millions of dollars and take many years to convert to it, instead of just keeping the 

imperial system that we all know.  

The Imperial System evolved from the “thousands of Roman, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, and 

customary local units”​, and was used in “​Great Britain from 1824 until the adoption of the metric 

system beginning in 1965” according to Britannica (British Imperial System). The imperial 

system is based on everyday items, which made it easy for people to figure out how long 

something was or know how tall someone was. Before the Metric system was created the 

Imperial System was used in “most parts of the world” says Difference Between (Difference 

between metric and imperial). Then there was a “serious attempt” to switch to a system that was 

universal and could be “acceptable to all countries of the world” according to Difference 

Between (Difference between metric and imperial). 

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The metric system was created because of “ratification of the system by 48 nations of the 

world, and the key agreement was the treaty of meter” says Difference Between (Difference 

between metric and imperial). The metric system is also known as SI and was first introduced in 

1824. In 1959 the metric system was “accepted by the British Commonwealth” says Difference 

Between (Difference between metric and imperial). This caused many other countries to also 

convert to the metric system because “Britain dominated world commerce in 17th and 18th 

century”, according to Difference Between (Difference between metric and imperial). So other 

countries felt like they had no other option than to convert to the metric system because they did 

not want to be behind in trade with Britain. 

Today there are only three countries that still use the Imperial System, the United States 

being one of them. This has caused confusion between the two systems. If the United States 

changed to the metric system it would cost over 370 million dollars and take many years to 

convert everything over, because believe it or not the Imperial System is incorporated in many 

things like machinery. During the industrial revolution the imperial system was in place so 

“machinery used in these factories [were] developed to size in IS units; all of the workers were 

trained to deal with IS units; and many products were made to feature IS units” according to 

Britannica (Why Doesn’t the U.S. Use the Metric System?). If unit system changed it would 

cause much confusion within our country and it would take many years to get everything settled. 

The imperial system is also most commonly known and understood by the citizens of the United 

States and changing it would disrupt the common knowledge of the Imperial System. Students 

are also being taught “in school both the traditionally used IS system and the metric system that 

most of the rest of the world uses” according to Britannica. So students are aware of the metric 
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system and have the knowledge of how to use both the metric and the imperial systems instead 

of just one.  

The United States should keep the Imperial system because it is the unit of measurement 

that we citizens are the most comfortable and familiar with. It would also cause much confusion 

to convert to the metric system because of how much we use the imperial system in our everyday 

lives. The imperial system also sets the United States apart from the other countries and signifies 

a sense of leadership instead of being a follower by changing to the metric system.  

- Sincerely Isabel Provisor-Lemery 

 
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Work Cited  

British Imperial System. ​Britannica​, 

https://www.britannica.com/science/British-Imperial-System​. 

Guzman, Zach. Why the US hasn't fully adopted the metric system. ​CNBC,​ June 4, 2015, 

https://www.cnbc.com/2015/06/04/why-the-us-hasnt-fully-adopted-the-metric-system.html​. 

Hogeback, Jonathan .Why Doesn’t the U.S. Use the Metric System?. ​Britannica​,  

https://www.britannica.com/demystified/why-doesnt-the-u.s.-use-the-metric-system​. 

Olivia. Difference between metric and imperial. ​Difference Between​,  

http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-metric-and-vs-imperial/​. 

 
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Isabel Provisor-Lemery 
Tierney 
History Pre-AP Pd 7 
12/01/2017 
 
Foreign Policy magazine recently published a list titled, “10 Conflicts to Watch in 2017.” 
Choose one conflict and explain the conflict in your own words, some potential global 
consequences related to the conflict, and finally offer a potential solution or a way to calm the 
conflict. 

Conflict in Mexico 

There is already much conflict in Mexico but the United States isn't helping, and could 

potentially be hurting itself. With Donald Trump as the President of the United States, he 

“pledges to build a border wall, [and] deport millions of undocumented immigrants” (​10 

Conflicts to watch in 2017)​. These actions could not only hurt Mexico and its stability but also 

the stability of the United States. With the conflicts in Mexico, the United States should be 

helping the country, not trying to break it down even more.  

In Mexico “​ 55.3 million people in the nation of nearly 120 million” live in poverty and 

little have hope of a better life, according to reuters, and huffington post (Mexico’s Poverty 

Rate). Many people strive to provide food for their families and some can not make ends meet 

and end up dying from starvation. Looking for a better life many believe coming to the United 

States is the best and maybe the only option, for having a chance of survival. Many immigrants 

come to the U.S. looking for a better life for their family, because they would not be able to live 

in Mexico with no food, no job, no money, and no water.  

Crossing the United States-Mexico border is a very dangerous and expensive process. 

When crossing the border these people are in the hot, dry desert with minimal water and food. 
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The desert is also home to many dangerous animals like coyotes, snakes, and scorpions. Another 

aspect of crossing the border is that many pay thousands of dollars to have someone help them 

cross. This can be unsafe because they are not sure if the person who is ‘helping’ them is going 

to actually help, kill, or turn them into the authorities. Because of the harsh and dangerous 

conditions of crossing the border “more than 6,000 people have been found dead over the past 16 

years attempting to enter the U.S. from Mexico”, according to ThinkProgress (What It’s Really 

Like To Cross The U.S.-Mexico Border).  

The President of the United States, Donald Trump labeled Mexican immigrants to be 

“drug dealers, criminals, and rapists” according to Foreign Policy, but in reality these immigrants 

are just looking for a better life and a chance of survival​ (​10 Conflicts to watch in 2017). And it 

is not realistic to think that all 11 million immigrants that are living in the United States are 

“drug dealers, criminals, and rapists”, especially with many of them being children and parents 

that are just looking for a better more stable life. 

There was an estimated “11 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. in 2015”, and “8 

million” of them are working in the “U.S. civilian workforce”, says Pew Research (5 facts about 

illegal immigration). So if all eight million immigrants that are working the U.S. are deported 

then the economy will be in great trouble. Companies will have to look for new employers which 

can be a hard and long process. But this wouldn't just hurt the United states’ economy it would 

also hurt Mexico’s because Mexico's economy is already bad as it is, and there aren't enough 

jobs, which is the reason why immigrants are coming to the United States. 

Many immigrants come to the U.S. looking for a better life for their family, and many 

have children, or have one born after they move to the U.S. If there happens to be a mass 
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deportation it could affect millions of children, leaving them with no parents. Or if the parents 

take their children with them, then many could die from starvation as a result from their parents 

not finding work, and then not having any money for food. The lack of money also causes 

children to drop out of school and instead work so they can help contribute money for their 

family.  

If there is a mass deportation millions could die from starvation, economies would crash, 

and there will be children without parents. But a solution to this problem would be, to not 

conduct a mass deportation, and instead help mexico’s economy, because that is the main source 

of why immigrants are moving to the United States. We could do this by making a non profit 

organization to help people find jobs in Mexico. Another way we can prevent these situations is 

to provide some sort of food to families that are starving because lack of jobs and money. We 

should also encourage kids to stay in school and get the education they deserve and go on to get 

a higher paying job, rather than if they dropped out of school. The Unites States plays a huge role 

in the fate of Mexico, and instead of trying to break them down we should be doing more to help 

solve the problem instead of making matters worse. 

 
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Work cited  

Cohen, Luc. Mexico’s Poverty Rate: Half Of Country’s Population Lives In Poverty. 

Huffington Post, July 29, 2013, 

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/mexico-poverty_n_3673568.html​. 

Guehenno, Jean-Marie. 10 Conflicts to watch in 2017. ​Foreign Policy,​ January 5, 2017,  

http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/05/10-conflicts-to-watch-in-2017/​. 

Jenkins, Jack. What It’s Really Like To Cross The U.S.-Mexico Border. ​Think Progress​, 

Februray 10, 2015, 

https://thinkprogress.org/what-its-really-like-to-cross-the-u-s-mexico-border-a375d80f3cc/​. 

Jens Manuel Krogstad, Jeffrey S. Passel, and D’Vera Cohn. 5 facts about illegal 

immigration in the U.S.. ​Pew Research,​ April 27, 2017, 

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/27/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/​. 

Staff, Reuters. Mexican government says poverty rate rose to 46.2 percent in 2014. 

Reuters​, July 23, 2015, 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-poverty/mexican-government-says-poverty-rate-rose-

to-46-2-percent-in-2014-idUSKCN0PX2B320150723​.