Animal Testing Safety

In the first place, over one hundred million animals are used and killed each year in animal testing. These animals include mice, rats,

Additionally, animals also undergo immense pain and trauma in the pursuit of results that are not directly applicable for human use. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. has been using animals for testing to conclude that drugs and cosmetics are safe and effective before going into the human tests since the 1960s. These tests have been going on for

There are many different ways in which animals are experimented on: vivisection, “the cutting of or operation on a living animal for scientific investigation,” dissection (examining an animal by cutting into it), exposure to chemicals, testing new surgical procedures, and various other experiments (“Animal Testing” NP). When

This is a sensitive issue area in regards to research. There are many types of research that just are not feasible to do with human subjects; therefore the justification for non-human animals come into the experiment. Even though there are many benefits to using animals, many animal rights groups maintain strong opposition to using animals for research. This is why the APA has developed the Committee on Animal Research and Ethics (CARE). It is the responsibility of CARE to audit that all ethics regarding animal usage is followed (“Committee on animal,” 2014). Due to the sensitivity of testing on animals the APA has developed very strict standards regarding usage of animals as subjects. They range from justification, housing of said animal, acquisition, and procedures. These requirements outline absolute necessity in order to reduce the unnecessary usage of animals in testing.

“Man is the cruelest animal.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche (“Quotes About Animals”). In the search for advancements in medicine, mankind has completely forgotten the values of caring and loving to all creatures. This is because humans force other animals to undergo the grueling process of testing medicines. Although animals provide a medium for medical testing, the fact that the process and results are unreliable and dangerous, ultimately make animal testing a waste of resources.

By a raise of hands, how many of you think animals should be used for testing? Around the world, scientific testing often involves animals. Animal testing is mostly used for medical research. The most commonly used animals are mice, fish, rabbits, guinea pigs, farm animals, birds, cats, dogs, and nonhuman primates. According to Ian Murnaghan, animal testing is done in Private facilities, Government laboratories, Non-Profit facilities, and University laboratories (Murnaghan, 2017).

The Office of Technology Assessment, which provides official statistics on the numbers of animals used, maintains that it is not possible to know even whether the number of animals used [in experimentation] is increasing or decreasing. Their quote from 1986 [estimates that] between seventeen and twenty-two million animals [were used] in research. (Donni)

Although it may seem like animals are accurate to test on because humans and animals share so many similarities that is not true in all cases. There are many anatomic, metabolic, and cellular differences between humans and animals which can greatly affect the results of tests (procon.org, May 24, 2016). Humans have a much more complicated body than a fish or mouse so therefore you get two different test outcomes. For example, rats are the species most commonly used in animal tests and they have no gall bladder, they breathe through their nose, they are nocturnal, and their skin has different skin absorptive properties and drugs bind to rat plasma much less efficiently. All of these characteristic will alter drug results and can mislead scientists.

The first concept, reduction alternatives, covers any strategy that will result in fewer animals being used to obtain the same amount of information. Also, reduction refers to maximizing the information obtained per animal so as to limit or avoid

“It is estimated that more than 115 million animals worldwide are used in laboratory experiments every year. United States, up to 90 percent of the animals used in laboratories are excluded from the official statistics” ("About Animal Testing" n.d.). This is a major increase from the estimated 5.5 million tests done in 1970. Of the 115 million animals, the most commonly used are “mice, fish, rats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, farm animals, birds, cats, dogs, mini-pigs, and non-human primates” ("About Animal Testing" n.d.). These animals and much more are subjected to torture and

Animal testing has allowed for great strides in the fields of modern medicine and science, from providing us with anesthetics, asthma medication, polio vaccines, and insulin. Animal testing has been a vital tool to the medical field. Animal testing is also a highly regulated field, according to Tom Holder, who wrote an article on the subject of animal testing and its utilization states that

The focus of animal research has been characterized by three criteria, The Three R’s. “’The Three Rs’ are reduction, replacement and refinement. Here in the US, research communities are committed to supporting techniques that reduce the number of higher species used, replace animals with other models wherever/whenever possible, and refine tests to ensure the most humane conditions possible.” (Trull 2). Scientists try to keep the animals from being harmed as much as possible.

Over 25 million animals are used in experiments in the US every year, and more than 170,000 of them are rabbits. Using animals in research is a commonly argued subject, and alternative testing methods now exist. Also testing animals is cruel, and drugs that pass animal tests may not always be safe for humans.

Many species of animals are used in animal testing. In modern times, ninety to ninety-five percent of test subjects are reported to be mice and rats, although other subjects include guinea pigs, hamsters, gerbils, dogs, cats, chimpanzees, fish and farm animals. Some tests are performed mainly on specific animals because of the traits or characteristics of the species. For example, tests for osteoarthritis are performed primarily on sheep. Skin irritancy or toxicity testing is executed mainly on pigs. Dogs, cats, and chimpanzees are used

- Reduce which is the number of animals which are used in the research are minimum and are used to obtain information from as few animals as possible or to find more information the same number of animals are used. So, non-animal alternatives should be used whenever possible.