preview

Essay On Vivisection

Good Essays
Open Document

Webster’s Dictionary defines a vivisection as, animal experimentation especially if considered to cause distress to the subject. Since 450 BC animals have been used in scientific research. Greek philosopher Alcmaeon performed the first vivisection in 450 BC. Other Greek scientists, including Aristotle and Erasistratus, also used vivisection, or live animals in their experiments. Years later Roman scientist Claudius Galen became known as the Father of Vivisection. Galen’s work on various animals assisted him in his study of muscles and nerves. In the seventeenth century, vivisection was also used by English doctor William Harvey to determine how blood is circulated through the body.
In the eighteenth century, English doctor Edward Jenner developed one of the first vaccines using animal tissue. He used pus from a cow that had a disease called cowpox, which was similar to smallpox, Jenner used the pus to protect a child against the more lethal smallpox. The following century, Louis Pasteur, a French chemist, experimented on farm animals when developing vaccines for rabies and anthrax (“Animal” 1). After the incident regarding sulfanilamide, in which many people died, the US government passed a law that required animal testing before a drug could be administered to the public. But since then there has been an outcry for a switch to alternatives. To a certain extent, lawmakers have listened. The Animal Welfare Act of 1966 provides test animals some protections under the law. In

Get Access