On Tuesday the 19th of January 2016, an academic debate entitled "Is animal testing justifiable?" was held at the Chemistry Hall of the Faculty Science at the University of Zakho. The debate was between the Department of Biology, which stood against the use of animals for experiments and researches, and the Department of Chemistry which was in favor of animal testing. Each department was represented by three members.

In the presence of Assist. Prof. Dr. Lazgin Abdi Jamil, the President of the University of Zakho, and Assist. Prof. Dr. Abdulwahab Khalid Mosa, the Vice-President for Students Affairs, a large number of students and academic staff members of the Faculty of Science attended this debate with full engagement. In order to issue an opinion on which of the two sides presented better arguments, 55 persons of the audience were chosen to take a decision. The outcome was that 33 voters were in favor of using animal testing, whereas 22 voters stood against animal testing.

The three members of the Department of Biology provided scientific and ethical evidence to avoid animal testing. However, the three members of the Department of Chemistry focused on the religious side and also provided strong scientific arguments to justify animal testing.

Generally, animal testing is a very controversial issue. On the one hand, it kills millions or may be billions of animals every year and it also creates huge pain to animals. On the other hand, it is very useful in the development of biology, medicine, chemistry and many other fields.