Animal Testing And Its Gift To Animals

100 million animals are used in animal testing every single year to further the understanding of species and the impact of different modern medicines. There are many organizations that are extremely against the use of these animals in medicine, saying that it is “cruel and inhumane”. Compare these 100 million to the 56 billion animals slaughtered for food for humans. Those 100 million almost seem like a small amount, don’t they? The animals used in scientific testing have contributed to many life-saving cures and treatments. In “Animal Testing and Its Gift to Humans”, published in The Wall Street Journal, author and opinion journalist, Frankie L. Trull, analyzes the medical miracles and breakthroughs due to animal testing, including the treatments
When considering the pain some animals are put through in order to test certain medical techniques, we mustn't forget that if it were not animals going through the pain, it would be humans. Also, the amount of successful outcomes of medical testing far outweighs the failures. The California 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. Also, the polio vaccine, tested on animals, reduced the global occurrence of the disease from 350,000 cases in 1988 to 223 cases in 2012. Lastly, animals covered under the “Animal Welfare Act include any live or dead cat, dog, hamster, rabbit, nonhuman primate, guinea pig, and any other warm-blooded animal determined by the Secretary of Agriculture for research, pet use or exhibition”(Animal Welfare Act of 1966). Animal research is highly regulated, with laws in place to protect animals from mistreatment. As well as stipulating minimum housing standards for research animals, the AWA also requires regular inspection by veterinarians. This nearly guarantees the safety of Animal Research labs and makes sure that they treat their animals with the utmost
According to the California Biomedical Research Association states that nearly every medical breakthrough in the last 100 years has resulted directly from using animals. 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. The polio vaccine, tested on animals, reduced the global occurrence of the disease from 350,000 cases in 1988 to 223 cases in 2012. Animal research has also contributed to major advances in understanding and treating conditions such as breast cancer, brain injury, childhood leukemia, cystic fibrosis, malaria, multiple sclerosis, tuberculosis, and many others, and was instrumental in the development of pacemakers, cardiac valve substitutes, and anesthetics. Chris Abee, Director of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's animal research facility, states that "we wouldn't have a vaccine for hepatitis B without chimpanzees," and says that the use of chimps is "our best hope" for finding a vaccine for Hepatitis C, a disease that kills 15,000 people every year in the United States