Animal Testing

Animal testing
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. Research on living animals has been practiced since at least
500 BC.
Proponents of animal testing say that it has enabled the development of numerous life-saving
treatments for both humans and animals, that there is no alternative method for researching a
complete living organism, and that strict regulations prevent the mistreatment of animals in
laboratories.
Opponents of animal testing say that it is cruel and inhumane to experiment on animals, that
alternative methods available to researchers can replace animal testing, and that animals are so
different from human beings that research on animals often yields irrelevant results.
PRO Animal Testing
1. Animal testing has contributed to
many life-saving cures and
treatments. The California Biomedical
Research Association states that nearly
every medical breakthrough in the last
100 years has resulted directly from
research using animals. Experiments in
which dogs had their pancreases
removed led directly to the discovery of
insulin, critical to saving the lives of
diabetics. Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer
Center's animal research facility, states
that "we wouldn't have a vaccine for
hepatitis B without chimpanzees" .
2. Animals are appropriate research
subjects because they are similar to
human beings in many
ways. Chimpanzees share 99% of their
DNA with humans, and mice are 98%
genetically similar to humans. All
mammals, including humans, are
descended from common ancestors, and
all have the same set of organs (heart,
CON Animal Testing

1. Animal testing is cruel and
inhumane.According to Humane
Society International, animals used in
experiments are commonly subjected
to force feeding, forced inhalation,
food and water deprivation, prolonged
periods of physical restraint, the
infliction of burns and other wounds
to study the healing process, the
infliction of pain to study its effects
and remedies." The Draize eye test,
used by cosmetics companies to
evaluate irritation caused by shampoos
and other products, involves rabbits
being incapacitated in stocks with
their eyelids held open by clips,
sometimes for multiple days, so they
cannot blink away the products being
tested.
2. Alternative testing methods now
exist that can replace the need for
animals. In vitro (in glass) testing,
such as studying cell cultures in a petri
kidneys, lungs, etc.) that function in

essentially the same way with the help
of a bloodstream and central nervous
system. Because animals and humans
are so biologically similar, they are
susceptible to many of the same
conditions and illnesses, including heart
disease, cancer, and diabetes.
3. Animals must be used in cases when
ethical considerations prevent the use
of human subjects. When testing
medicines for potential toxicity, the
lives of human volunteers should not be
put in danger unnecessarily. It would be
unethical to perform invasive
experimental procedures on human
beings before the methods have been
tested on animals, and some
experiments involve genetic
manipulation that would be
unacceptable to impose on human
subjects before animal testing. The
World Medical Association Declaration
of Helsinki states that human trials
should be preceded by tests on animals.
4. Animals themselves benefit from the
results of animal testing. If vaccines
were not tested on animals, millions of
animals would have died from rabies,
distemper, feline leukemia, infectious
hepatitis virus, tetanus, anthrax, and
canine parvo virus.
5. Animals often make better research
subjects than human beings because
of their shorter life cycles. Laboratory
mice, for example, live for only two to
three years, so researchers can study the
effects of treatments or genetic
manipulation over a whole lifespan, or
across several generations, which would
be infeasible using human subjects.
dish, can produce more relevant

results than animal testing because
human cells can be
used. Microdosing, the administering
of doses too small to cause adverse
reactions, can be used in human
volunteers, whose blood is then
analyzed. Artificial human skin is
made from sheets of human skin cells
grown in test tubes or plastic wells
and can produce more useful results
than testing chemicals on animal
skin. Computer models, such as
virtual reconstructions of human
molecular structures, can predict the
toxicity of substances without invasive
experiments on animals.
3. Drugs that pass animal tests are not
necessarily safe. The 1950s sleeping
pill thalidomide, which caused 10,000
babies to be born with severe
deformities, was tested on animals
prior to its commercial release. Later
tests on pregnant mice, rats, guinea
pigs, cats, and hamsters did not result
in birth defects unless the drug was
administered at extremely high
doses.
4. Animal tests may mislead
researchers into ignoring potential
cures and treatments.Some
chemicals that are harmful to animals
prove valuable when used by humans.
Aspirin, for example, is dangerous for
some animal species, and Fk-506
(tacrolimus), used to lower the risk of
organ transplant rejection, was
"almost shelved" because of animal
test results.
5.
95% of animals used in

experiments are not protected by
the Animal Welfare Act. The AWA
6. Animal researchers treat animals

humanely, both for the animals' sake
and to ensure reliable test
results. Research animals are cared for
by veterinarians, husbandry specialists,
and animal health technicians to ensure
their well-being and more accurate
findings. According to the
journal Nature Genetics, because
"stressed or crowded .
7. Animals do not have rights, therefore
it is acceptable to experiment on
them. Animals do not have the
cognitive ability or moral judgment that
humans do and because of this they
have been treated differently than
humans by nearly every culture
throughout recorded history. If we
granted animals rights, all humans
would have to become vegetarians, and
hunting would need to be outlawed.
8. Religious traditions allow for human
dominion over animals. The Bible
states in Genesis 1:26: "And God said...
let them [human beings] have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and
over all the earth, and over every
creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth." The BBC reports that Jewish,
Christian, and Muslim teaching allows
for animal experimentation as long as
there is no unnecessary pain inflicted
and there is a real possibility of benefit
to human beings.
does not cover rats, mice, fish and

birds, which comprise around 95% of
the animals used in research. The
AWA covered 1,134,693 animals used
for testing in fiscal year 2010, which
leaves around 25 million other
animals that are not covered. These
animals are especially vulnerable to
mistreatment and abuse without the
protection of the AWA.
6.
Animal tests are more expensive

than alternative methods and are a
waste of government research
dollars. Humane Society International
compared a variety of animal tests
with theirin vitro counterparts. An
"unscheduled DNA synthesis" animal
test costs $32,000, while the in
vitro alternative costs $11,000. A "rat
phototoxicity test" costs $11,500,
whereas the non-animal equivalent
costs $1,300.
7. Animals can suffer like humans do,

so it is speciesism to experiment on
them while we refrain from
experimenting on humans. All
suffering is undesirable, whether it be
in humans or animals. Discriminating
against animals because they do not
have the cognitive ability, language, or
moral judgment that humans do is no
more justifiable than discriminating
against human beings with severe
mental impairments.
8. Medical breakthroughs involving
animal research may still have been
made without the use of
animals. There is no evidence that
animal experiments were essential in
making major medical advances, and
if enough money and resources were
devoted to animal-free alternatives,
other solutions would be found.
Did you know
1. 95% of animals used in experiments are not protected by the federal Animal Welfare Act
(AWA), which excludes birds, rats and mice bred for research, and cold-blooded animals
such as reptiles and most fish.
2. A 2011 poll of nearly 1,000 biomedical scientists conducted by the science
journal Nature found that more than 90% "agreed that the use of animals in research is
essential."
3. Chimpanzees share 99% of their DNA with humans, and mice are 98% genetically
similar to humans. The United States and Gabon are the only two countries that allow
experimentation on chimpanzees.
4. In 2010, Minnesota used more cats for testing than any other state , New Jersey used the
most dogs , and Massachusetts used the most primate.
5. In 1997, researchers Joseph and Charles Vacanti grew a human "ear" seeded from
implanted cow cartilage cells on the back of a living mouse to explore the possibility of
fabricating body parts for plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Animal Testing

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Animal testing

CON Animal Testing

kidneys, lungs, etc.) that function in

dish, can produce more relevant

95% of animals used in

6. Animal researchers treat animals

does not cover rats, mice, fish and

Animal tests are more expensive

7. Animals can suffer like humans do,

other solutions would be found.

Did you know

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