Pros And Cons Of Animal Testing

Animal testing, according to the Humane Society International, is deemed as cruel and inhumane, especially in an age where alternatives are present. During animal experimentation, the test subjects are put through both physical pain and psychological distress. (Humane Society International, n.d.) Animal experimentation also supplies limited results when human diseases are recreated in animals, seeing as they have different bodily anatomy and therefore will not supply real world results. In addition to the lack of real time reactions, different organism species react differently to a variety of drugs and substances, and for that reason many animal tests that are performed are, in fact, performed in vain.

Furthermore, animal experiments

This is once again due to animals having different anatomies than humans as well as having the experiments performed under conditions. As stated in The Failure of Animal Tests of COX-2 Inhibitors, written by John J. Pippin, animal tests can provide results that can come as a harm to humans rather than as a beneficial point. There are vast differences between humans and animals genetically, as well as in physiology and metabolism. Even with genetically modified animals, the results received will never truly reflect on the way the medication will perform on a human. (Pippin, 2005) An example of a successful animal tested drug that caused harm to humans is Thalidomide, a teratogen given to pregnant women in the 1950’s. This drug, although giving no negative results in mice, rats, or guinea pigs, caused more than 10,000 births with limb-reduction defects. After being pulled from pharmacies, the drug was further tested on animals however never gave results similar to that of humans, except when given in extremely high doses to cats, hamsters, rats, and mice. Another example is Flenac, otherwise known as Fenclofenac, an NSAID (Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug) that had passed animal toxicity tests in 10 different animals, including mice, rats, guinea pigs, ferrets, rabbits, pigs, monkeys, and horses, yet caused severe liver toxicity

The majority of animal experiments cost millions of dollars, looking specifically at the cases that study the production and growth of cancer, and this cost could be easily eliminated if scientists changed their experiments to animal free options. On average, in a two-species life span cancer study, the cost would be $2 to $4 million dollars, as stated by the Humane Society International. The cost, as well as the resources, provide that the results obtained are relatively useless when putting into consideration real life scenarios of humans with diseases. The prices of chemicals used in a majority of animal experiments are also relatively high, meaning that to study chemical combinations and their effect on humans would also prove to be highly expensive on government bodies. However, computer studies on the other hand, as well as cell growth studies, are proved to be cost efficient and are able to provide plausible results without the hearty expenses of an animal experiment. (International H. S.,