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Animal testing was first introduced around 300 BCE when the Greek Philosopher Aristotle performed tests on them. This practice became widely known in the 17th century when Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution was put forth. Approximately 26 million animals are tested each year in the United States. Animal experimentation has been used to create treatments and to assess the safety of products, ranging from medicine to cosmetics. Animal testing is also used to understand how the human/animal body works. Animal abuse during experimentation was well publicized during the 90’s and led to a wide group of anti-testing groups. (ProCon 2016) Many can relate to the affection one has for their animals. Many also connect this feeling with their opposition to animal testing. This created a huge controversy on testing, but many fail to conclude that the benefits of research outweigh what anti-animal groups believe.
Animal testing has contributed to many life-saving treatments. “The major medical discoveries of the last 100 years have all been made as a result of animal research and testing.” (List Land 2015) Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles tested a series of medicines to help patients fighting breast cancer. For their trial, these researchers used mice as the basis of their experiment. Through testing, they were able to make Herceptin, a treatment made for early-stage breast cancer without the side effects of hair loss and nausea, which is common for cancer-treating medicines. Mice have served as models for more than just this experiment. In 2001, Kentucky became the first hospital to conduct clinical trials with the implantation of an artificial heart in a human patient. The successful exam led to 5 more. The creation of the heart would not have been as successful without the use of the animals it was first tested on. These are definitely not the only examples. We have animals to thank for insulin to help diabetics. We have them to thank for polio vaccinations, a disease that affected many children in the 1980s, and we have them to thank for life-saving antibiotics and anesthetics. The animals that were used to conduct the experiments were crucial and led to many medical breakthroughs throughout the years. The use of these animals led to the creation of medicine to treat more than just those mentioned above. (UCLA Newsroom 2008)
Why do animals have to be tested? If technology is rapidly advancing, why hasn’t a viable alternative been created? There is no alternative as effective as testing on a living body system. “Living systems like human beings and animals are extremely complex. Studying cell cultures in a petri dish, while sometimes useful, does not provide the opportunity to study interrelated processes occurring in the central nervous system, endocrine system, and immune system.” (List Land 2015) No computer model or alternative testing can provide results as accurate as a test done on a living system. For example, if a researcher wanted to evaluate a drug for side effects, this would require a functioning circulatory system to observe where the medicine travels. “Also, conditions such as blindness and high blood pressure cannot be studied in tissue cultures.” Technologically advanced computers cannot accurately replicate the “workings of complex organs” such as the brain. Animals are appropriate research subjects because they are very closely related to humans in many ways as well. Chimpanzees, for example, share 99% of their DNA with humans, while mice are 98% genetically similar to humans. It is known that mammals come from the same ancestors, and have organs that function very similarly, making animals perfect subjects for experimentation. Animal alternatives are being developed, and hopefully, simulations and models will be as effective as animal testing, but the models “are only made possible because of the results of animal research used to design and make them.” (List Land 2015)
One of the most controversial tests was due to incomplete testing on animals. In 1956, Thalidomide was first introduced and was used to alleviate morning sickness during pregnancy. During the 1960s, physicians discovered a causation between Thalidomide and birth defects. The medicine had created effects in the womb. The use of thalidomide unfortunately led to many baby deaths and 15,000 were born with limb defects. Not long after, physicians had confirmed that the medicine, in fact, led to the deaths. The Food and Drug Administration had banned the sale of the medicine due to incomplete testing. Because of the unfortunate causes of the medicine, many anti-testing groups have used this information to argue that animal testing was unnecessary because their testing did not reveal these effects. After the medicine had caused turmoil among parents, all the necessary testing was conducted and researchers discovered the defects that would have otherwise already been found if the testing was completed to begin with. Completion of animal testing was necessary and would have prevented the deaths and defects of the babies. (Pro-Test)
If the argument behind banning animal testing is ethically driven, many people do not take into consideration that we eat way more animals than we test on. The 26 million animals we test on, 95% of them being rodents, fish, and birds, may seem like a scary number, but that doesn’t compare to the 9 billion chickens consumed by the United States alone and does not include the beef and pork we consume as well. The main reason people do not support experimentation is because of any possible harm done to animals. These are possibly also people who are eating animal products and probably wear leather and fur. This argument is not valid because one way or another, unless one is vegan, this presents a hypocrisy, and one way or another, you’re still buying into what they call animal abuse. (List Land 2015)
To continue with the invalid arguments of animal rights groups, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a perfect example of this. PETA is an animal rights organization infamous for sharing pictures of distraught animals and their insensitive and ridiculous advertisement. PETA has often used nudity to advertise veganism and compared the lack of animal rights to something as horrible as African American lynching, and the holocaust. For a huge nonprofit to have to advertise using these tactics proves that a lot of animal testing counterarguments are not strong enough to sustain on their own. Companies and believers like PETA have to advertise like this in order to get their supporters. (Rational Wiki)
A lot of people are used to the graphic photos of animals being abused and mistreated, of course, PETA is a huge contributor to this. Though anti-testing supporters love to use these pictures to intimidate people, many of them are old and depict methods that are not put into practice today. Many of the pictures companies like PETA use are up to 30 years old. In 1966, the Federal Government passed the Animal Welfare Act, which regulates animal research. This allows the basic care and treatment to be provided to the testing animals. Testing facilities and research laboratories require an Animal Care and Use Committee which supervises the treatment of the test subjects. If animal testing is not required and there is an effective alternative, the ACUC will not allow the research to take place.
In order for researchers to get the best results, animals have to have to be kept healthy anyway, so animal torture would serve no purpose in an experiment. A lot of researchers support what they call the Three R Concept. This begins with replacement. This can mean finding viable alternatives when one is available. This can also mean using cells, tissues, and cultures rather than risking the life of the animal. Then comes reduction. This of course is using the least amount of test subjects as possible. The third and final R is refinement. This ensures that animals are excluded from the pain and distress. It also can be making the environment as comfortable as possible for the animal, promoting natural behavior and relieving them from boredom.
Despite the beliefs of anti-testing groups, animals have served to be a significant part of human advancement. Their contribution to scientists has created huge benefits allowing researchers to present their breakthroughs in the medical field. Many counterarguments could easily be debunked because they do not provide enough credibility. Since many are unfamiliar with the research process, a lot of information from scientists is taken out of context and publicized as horrible. Alternatives have not proven to be as effective as working with a living system, but until a method as efficient and beneficial as animal research is found, the use of it is a researcher’s strongest option.
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