Testing Without Animals By Woods Summary

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.

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).

Animal testing has contributed to many life-saving cures, treatments, and major advances in understanding and treating conditions such as breast cancer, childhood leukemia, brain injuries, cystic fibrosis, malaria, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, and many others, and was instrumental in the development of pacemakers, cardiac valve substitutes, and anesthetics. Using animals as research subjects is appropriate because they are similar to human beings in many ways.

Since animals are very similar to humans, they should be exempt from inhumane practices such as animal experimentation. Due to various breakthroughs in science, it has been proven that there are many alternatives to animal experimentation. For example, instead of animal experimentation computer models and simulations, stem cell and genetic testing methods can be used. These alternative scientific tests are often more reliable than testing animals. Non-animal tests are also proven to be more cost-effective, practical, and

Animals should not be used for scientific experiments. According to ‘Should Animals Be Used for Scientific or Commercial Testing?’ Animals are so different from human beings that research

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

Biomedical research is vital to the human race as it allows a wider range of results for scientists to work with. Experiments conducted with animal experimentation resulted in the development of treatments for many once thought incurable. Most of our basic medical knowledge was taught from late biomedical research experiments. Two associations such as AWA and APHIS are dedicated towards the humane use of animals in biomedical research. AWA or the Animal Welfare Act ensures the welfare of the animals and APHIS Plant Health Inspection Service is the enforcer for AWA’s provisions. The leading argument of the opposition is that animal testing is cruel and inhumane as it is not necessary research. However, the research isn’t required, it is vital towards a steady increase in our search for medical cures.

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.

Ever since the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s, animal research has been under extreme fire for what they do. This is mainly due to the many changing perspectives on the relationship between humans and the other aspects of the world that are surrounding them. There are many main reasons for this change, but the main reason is the different ideas that surrounded the use and exploration of animals in laboratories is what is being brought into question.

Every single year millions of animals are tested to see if the products they are using/testing are safe for humans or other things. The testers give no regard to the animals they just care about whether or not there are side affects. But there are many non animal tests that can replace animal testing but yet it stays the same method. These non-animal tests are more humane, and they also have the potential to be cheaper, faster, and more relevant to humans. Some products when tested on animals can be very harmful to that animal, therefore some states banned the testing of certain products on animals.

Animal experimentation reflects the poor status of humanity. According to “Estimates for Worldwide Laboratory Animal Use” (2005), it is estimated that more than 115.3 million of animals are used in laboratory experiments each year. The animals included are mice, rat, birds, fish , rabbits, guinea pigs, livestock, dogs , cats and non-human primates.

In conclusion, animal testing is experimentation carried out on living animals to enhance our understanding of biology, the majority being aimed to increase knowledge of human biology. However, animal testing is not a necessity to expand our biological understanding and should be outlawed. These tests are a waste of resources as their results are not valid when predicting outcomes in humans. Animals testing is completely dispensable due to the presence of in vitro testing. In addition, these tests cause a great deal of physical and psychological damage to a multitude of faultless animals.

In the opinionated world we live in today, a very controversial topic is upon animal testing. Animal testing is also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing. It is the use of animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This study often gets confused with field studies in which animals are observed in their natural environments. Experimental research with animals is usually conducted in universities, medical schools, pharmaceutical companies, defense establishments, and commercial facilities that provide animal-testing services to industry. The aim of animal testing differs on a continuum from pure research, done with little regard to the uses to which understanding may be put, to applied research, which may focus on answering some question of great practical importance, such as finding a cure for a disease. Examples of applied research include testing, breeding, defense research, and toxicology, including cosmetics testing. For educational purposes, animal testing is sometimes a component of biology or psychology courses. The practice is regulated to varying degrees in different countries.

The use of animals for scientific purposes, in order to better understand a particular disease, develop new medicines or to check the safety of a drug, causes a lot of conflicting reactions. Some believe that no moral problem is here; other, rushing to the opposite extreme, willing to justify violence in order to protect animals. Experiments on animals - are a huge industry. Every year, British scientists use nearly 3 million animals for research purposes. Most used for development and testing of drugs for human diseases, although each year about 17,000 animals are used for testing the safety of food additives and household chemicals. Now the number of animals exposed to similar experiences reduced. Although traditional animal experiments are gradually decreasing, new spheres of experimental studies are appeared. For example, now more and more animal are used for experiments in genetic engineering. In some cases, scientists introduce human genes into an animal. Such transgenic animals can develop the disease very similar to human one. Studying the impact of the disease on the body of transgenic animals, the scientists explain the