Scientists are constantly looking for new medical advances that they hope will save people’s lives and often turn to animals as the optimal resource for testing new ideas and products. These animals range from rats and mice to dogs and monkeys. On top of varying animals, the tests they run fluctuate from simply checking the effectiveness of a medicine already in use to testing an entirely new form of treatment. However, there have beens years of controversy over the morality of using animals as the test subjects.…
However, technology has replaced the need for almost all types of animal experimentation. These alternative testing methods are producing more efficient results and are eliminating the horrors and inhumanity associated with traditional animal testing. Many people are rejecting alternative methods because they are new and unorthodox. However, alternative methods of testing do not mean putting humans at risk. They do not mean putting a halt on medical progress. Rather, non-animal testing will greatly improve the quality and humaneness of our toxicity testing and drug…
The potential danger of using animals as subjects in drug and product testing is exemplified by the number of approved drugs and products that are later withdrawn. In Health and Humans Research, the AAVS reports that “51.5 percent of 198 drugs approved by the FDA between 1976 and 1985 caused severe adverse reactions after they were marketed” (10). The animal testing performed on these drugs gave no indication in animals that there would be adverse reactions in…
Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, or in vivo testing, often uses non-human animals in experiments to test the safety of products and has been a topic of heated debate for decades. Although some research uses animals only for natural behaviors observation, F. Barbara Orlans claimed in her book, In the Name of Science: Issues in Responsible Animal Experimentation, that more than sixty percent of all animals used in animal testing suffer from experiment procedure or even get killed in biomedical research and product-safety testing. On the one hand, successful animal testing can lead to medical cures and treatments for human beings, on the other hand, opponents are doubting the reliability of animal…
First off, throughout the history of testing on animals, many human lives have been lost due to inaccuracies that have occurred during animal testing. There have been many cases where an animal showed no side effects when subjected to a specific medication. When that same medication was tested on humans, however, the reaction was completely different. Take the antidiarrheal drug, Clioquinol, for example. At the time of its release, this drug not only passed tests on rats and dogs, but in cats and rabbits as well. None of the animals were said to have experienced any adverse side effects. However, humans reacted in an entirely different manner. Clioquinol caused blindness and even paralysis in many of its…
As a result of this, nine out of every ten trial medicines that look safe and appear to be effective on animals, fail when they are given to humans. Because animals don’t react the same way as humans, not only do the failed tests delay medical progress, but also they are a waste of animal’s lives, and a waste of money that is spent into the research and tests. Animals have different anatomic, cellular, and metabolic structures than humans have. If a new product is passed just because it is safe on animals and isn’t on humans, that could be a very dangerous situation. One instance when this occurred was in 1950 when a sleeping pill worked on animals but when given to humans it caused 10,000 babies to be born with severe birth defects. Another time, a drug for arthritis was safe on mice but when administered to humans caused 27,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac deaths. Animal testing can make researchers oversea potential cures and treatments. Some substances that are harmful to animals, are helpful to humans. For example, aspirin is dangerous to some animals. Arthur Allen says, “A source of human suffering may be the dozens of promising drugs that get shelved when they cause problems in animals that may not be relevant for humans.” (“Of Mice or Men: The Problems with Animal Testing”). Of all the medicines that pass animal trials and are ready for human…
Animal testing is rarely successful since animals have different physiologies than humans. There has been many studies that have shown inaccuracy and unsuccess in animal testing. Studies show, “90 percent of medications approved for human use after animal testing later proved ineffective or harmful to humans in clinical trials” (Stop Animal Testing) and also, “Animal-tested drugs have killed, disabled or harmed millions of people and lead to costly delays as well” (Stop Animal Testing). It is evident that animal testing lacks accuracy and has dangerous consequences, therefore it should no longer be…
When it comes to the topic of animal testing, most of us will readily agree that it is a debatable topic. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of whether it helps researchers to find new drugs and treatments suitable for humans. Whereas some are convinced that it does help researchers find new drugs and treatments, others maintain that some drugs tested on animals may never actually be useful or even safe for human consumption. In my own view the results of animals testing are unreliable because animals and humans are not genetically or anatomically alike to one another.…
One common misconception is that animals are so different from humans that research is unconnected. However, one of the reasons why animal research is so essential in scientific discovery is because animals actually share very similar biologically. We share the same organs and these bodily processes work the same way in both humans and animals, so it is important to see how certain treatment, drugs and diseases affect animals because it gives us a clue as to how the human body would respond. Another misconception is that medicine that works in people are toxic to animals and vise versa. An example of this misconception is that penicillin is toxic to guinea pigs; however, studies have shown that much like humans, penicillin is only toxic in extreme doses.…
First, difference in species causes differences in anatomy, organ structure and function, toxin metabolism, chemical and drug absorption, and mechanisms of DNA repair (Neavs). For instance, penicillin is poisonous for guinea pigs, aspirin is toxic for cats, and the recalled weight loss drug “phen-fen” caused no heart damage in animals, while it did in humans (Neavs). Another example was seen in 1933, when a 53-year-old woman used an eyebrow/eyelash dye known as Lash Lure that had been guaranteed safe by animal testing and upon applying the dye she became blind and contracted a staph infection and died (Horne). Along with a series of alarming cases of inaccurate results of cosmetic animal testing, the FDA also reports that ninety two percent of drugs approved by animal testing fail to receive approval for human use…
Every living system differs from each other. Predicting the reaction of one species by studying another species is not accurate at all. LaFoullette and Shanks depicted the truth that "even the most common drug given to humans does not have uniform effects in non-human animals". Although mice and rats look very similar, their reaction upon certain drugs can be totally distinctive. Roy Kupsinel, M.D. once announced that "animal experimentation produces a lot of misleading and confusing data which poses hazards to human health. For example, 4 million patients per year are hospitalised for side effects caused by thoroughly tested' drugs, and of those 50,000 die of the cures,' not the disease". According to Davis, "aspirin causes birth defects in rats and mice, poisons cats, but does not affect horses". A well-known example of the misleading animal testing which harms human health is the thalidomide disaster. The box accompanying the thalidomide stated that after substantial animal tests, this drug was confirmed to be safe. However, birth defects were eventually caused if pregnant women had…
Instead, signs of these diseases are artificially induced in animals in laboratories in an attempt to mimic the human disease.It is not surprising to find that treatments showing ‘promise’ in animals rarely work in humans. Not only are time, money and animals’ lives being wasted (with a huge amount of suffering), but effective treatments are being mistakenly discarded and harmful treatments are getting through.Aspirin is toxic to many animals, including cats, mice and rats and would not be on our pharmacy shelves if it had been tested according to current animal testing standards.…
Animal testing has its pros and cons but ultimately is unnecessary now. It seems that the only reason it still exists in such popularity is the immoral influence of large corporations. Experiment methods such as selective formulation, human cultures, the physiological chip, cellular tests, and microdosing have made animal testing, a once necessary evil, obsolete. For this, it seems experimenting on animals should at least be limited. Maybe one day it will be completely…
* Balls, Michael. “Alternatives to Animal Testing: Toward Reducing Uncertainty and Unintended Consequences.” AATEX 16.3 (2011): 101-110…
Animals are being test in laboratory every day which causes death to most of them or just a defect part of their body. Now, it’s a tradition to humans to ensure the safety of consumer products and drugs around the world, scientist and regulators work together to develop alternative for their use.…