Animal Experimentation

Animal Experimentation for Medical Development The use of animals for medical research has been around for centuries, it is not a new concept and there is a deep passion for and against this practice. This topic intertwines a great deal of emotion and facts, which takes solid evidence to distinguish between the two. There is the scientific view and the view of ordinary people who challenge the morality of animal experimentation. Many of these practices have shown a negative effect on the animals used and are not for the faint hearted; however, this type of experimentation has lead to many useful vaccines and advancements for humans. Animal experimentation in the medical view is the act of testing a controlled variable on a non-human animal

During a rabies experiment, Louis Paster, a well known and respected scientist in the 1800’s discovered that, “disease was caused by invisible pathogens called germs.” (Rudacille 24). Paster and a few of his colleagues injected a number of different animals with the same strain of rabies to insure the virulent pathogen, which later led to the development of a vaccine. This development was put to the test when a young boy was infected with rabies and was voluntarily injected with a series of vaccines and was later cured. Paster was also known for benefitting animals by, “ [studying] anthrax in ungulates and cholera in chickens and [creating] vaccines to prevent them.” (Goodall 33). Discoveries such as these have influenced more scientists to use animals in their experiments in search for medical

Animals in medical research still have to undergo certain procedures to obtain the scientific conclusion researchers are looking for. The word procedure in medical experimentation “is defined as anything that may cause ‘pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm’ and includes the breeding of animals with genetic defects.” (Grayson 103). These procedures range from mild, moderate, substantial, and non-recovery. To keep these procedures as humane as possible any researcher is required to follow the three R’s, which act as guide lines to insure that there is no other way to minimize suffering. The three R’s include replacing any animals that they do not need to use, reduce the number of animals they do need to use, and refine the way animals are treated to minimize