Animal Testing Is Not Reliable For Finding Cures For Humans

The authors emphasize in reduction, replacement and refinement of animal use in experiments, which is referred as “3 Rs” principles. These principles encouraged researchers to work to lessen the number of animals used in experiments to the minimum, limit the pain and replace use of animals with non animal alternatives when possible. It provides awareness to the subject matter of animal testing, raising serious ethical and scientific issues.

As of 2015, 200 to 225 million animals are said to used in laboratory research for the biomedical industry annually worldwide. Typically defended by arguments of reliability and human health benefits, recently the question of ethics and values placed on animal testing have caused it to become a relevant and pressing topic that has been more widely discussed and debated. First off, the laboratory conditions that are instigated upon millions of animal models for the sake of medical research has been said to be unethical and cruel. Additionally, it has been debated that the results of animal experimentation are unreliable across a wide range of areas. Lastly, animal testing not only leads away from the direction of resources from more effective testing methods but also prolongs the duration of time humans may need to wait for an effective cure. Therefore, the potential benefits of animal experimentation are greatly outweighed by the risks and collective harm of humans and animals which is why resources should be directed towards more human-based testing procedures.

Around the world, millions of scientists conduct their studies by testing their research on animals. Many people believe that experimenting on animals is crucial to the advancement of medical discoveries. Studies show however, that animal experimentation is brutal and unnecessary. There are alternatives though: “replacement, reduction, and refinement” (Howard 2).

Throughout the years the use of animals in medical research has been a hot debate around the world. Although animal testing may be cruel and inhumane, thousands of humans are saved thanks to the research that animals supply researchers with. Animals testing have taken over our knowledge of medicine and treatments to a whole different level. Animal testing also does this in a cheap and effective way. Without animals testing out knowledge wouldn’t be up to date, in other words animals’ testing is good.

The harmful use of animals in experiments is not only cruel and inhumane but also often ineffective. Animals do not get many of the human diseases that people do, such as major types of heart disease, many types of cancer, HIV, Parkinson’s disease, or schizophrenia. There have been past occasions where drugs passed on animals weren’t even safe. There is no excuse for animal testing in today’s techy world, there are now many alternatives for animal testing that would put an end to the pain and suffering endured by these innocent animals during human testing.

Animal testing has contributed to many life-saving cures and treatments for humans. In the last century, nearly all the medical breakthroughs, for finding cures and treatment for diseases, were directly from animal testing. Animal testing first began in 129 A D with a Greek doctor named Galen. Galen’s main focus for conducting animal testing was to advance the understanding of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Scientists have been doing animal testing for various reasons, from finding cures to diseases to testing makeup to see if the makeup is safe for human use. Animal testing has been good for humans, but not much for the animals being tested on. While many people do not agree with animal testing because of the high risks

Many experiments done in today’s society are questionable according to the standards set today by ourselves, and others. A large example, without a doubt, is the experimentation of chemicals and other drugs on animals.

Whether animal testing is considered to be useful or unnecessary in the development of medicine is an ongoing discussion. Animal testing is the issue Andrew Rowan and Jack Botting with Adrian Morrison discuss in both their articles. “Avoiding Animal Testing” was written in 2011 by Andrew Rowan and was published in The Scientist. Jack Botting along with Adrian Morrison are the authors of “Animals are Vital to Medicine,” which was published in the Scientific American. All three authors clearly state their position on this issue from the beginning of their articles, starting with each of their titles. In “Avoiding Animal

Another option could be to use humans instead of animals because we are different and our reactions could also be different. The author points out, "An estimated 26 million animals are used every year in the United States for scientific and commercial testing. Animals are used to develop medical treatments, determine the toxicity of medications, check the safety of products destined for human use, and other biomedical, commercial, and health care uses. " (Animal Testing – ProCon.org). Animals may be harmed while testing.

Using animals as testing experiments have benefited the world in more ways than one. A few breakthroughs from

Animal testing is a substantial controversy across the nation. According to Rush, Catherine M. et al. “Animal Models to Investigate the Pathogenesis of Rheumatic Heart Disease.” Frontiers in Pediatrics 2 (2014): 116. PMC. Web. 27 Oct. 2016., animal testing has been around for quite some time. Her article states that “Animals have been used repeatedly throughout the history of biomedical research. Early Greek physician-scientists, such as Aristotle, (384 – 322 BC) and Erasistratus, (304 – 258 BC), performed experiments on living animals. Likewise, Galen (129 – 199 / 217 AD), a Greek physician who practiced in Rome and was a giant in the history of medicine, conducted animal experiments to advance the understanding of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), an Arab physician in twelfth century Moorish Spain, introduced animal testing as an experimental method for testing surgical procedures before applying them to human patients.”

We often see animal testing as an inhumane act of cruelty, however, we do not recognize the benefits and reasoning behind it all. After carefully studying the reasoning behind animals in medical research, I was appalled by the numerous beneficial outcomes. Research professionals tells us “Medical testing on animals has provided humans with an understanding of how body reacts to certain medications, diseases, or vaccines (animalresearch.info).” Without conducting such research, humans would have no further advancements in medicine, nor any knowledge of their effects. Have you ever noticed the prominence of commercials advertising a new medication? Whether it was a new birth control, blood thinner, or vaccine, more than likely, an animal was used to test the medicine. Animal Smart researchers explains how “Vaccines such as smallpox, measles, mumps, diphtheria and tetanus would have taken much longer to develop without the use of animal research (animal smart). Such diseases would have taken the lives of many young children and adults if there were no

Some of the tests that were passed on animals are found to be fatal to human beings. Thalidomide is a drug that was distributed in the 1950’s to prevent nausea in pregnant women. After the drug was tested on pregnant cats, mice, hamsters, and rats it was said to be safe then distributed to the public. Once taken by pregnant women there were around ten-thousand babies born with birth defects (specifically limb-reduction defects) (Pippin&Sullivan). In 1982 a drug called benoxaprofen was tested on rhesus monkeys for the coarse of a year. Months after the drug was distributed to the public it was withdrawn. Sadly enough, this was withdrawn after more than thirty-five-hundred adverse events as well as sixty deaths in Britain alone (Pippin&Sullivan). This is two of the many other times that animal testing has worked on animals but failed on humans.

Debates on the ethics of animal testing have emerged since the 17th century. Animals have been used throughout the history of medical research to find cures for diseases, vaccines and different types of drugs. It wasn’t till the 20th century that Animal testing became important. In the article Animal testing and medicine by rachel halar it stated two important physicians who made history and they were Galen and Ibn Zuhr. Galen was a Greek physician who was important in the history of medicine, did animal experiments to advance the understanding of anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Ibn Zuhr , an Arab physician in the 12th century, introduced animal testing for surgical procedures before applying them to human patients (Hajar,

In the mid 1850s, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution suggested that animal’s biological composition is similar to the human body. Therefore we could test on animals to understand how certain treatments, drugs and procedures could service the human body. In addition to Charles Darwin’s theory of Evolution in the 1850, ancient civilizations tested on animals. Aristotle, a Greek philosopher, used animals in his studies along with Galen, Roman physician and father of modern medicine, who used animals to learn about human anatomy by analogy. “An enormous breakthrough came in 1922 when animal testing allowed for insulin to be isolated from dogs. Prior to this isolation, individuals with diabetes essentially 'wasted' away from the metabolic effects of uncontrolled high blood sugar. In the 1930s, modern anaesthetics and antibiotics were developed from the use of animal testing. In addition, anticoagulants and kidney dialysis, both life-saving treatments, were introduced following animal testing.” Soon after, people became concerned with the fact that a myriad