The Argument Over Animal Experimentation

The argument over animal experimentation is one of that battles between extremes in human nature. There are those that will argue that animal experimentation is cruel and unnecessary, and others who argue that animal experimentation is key to advancing modern medicine, technology, and medical procedures. In reality, there are laws, rules, and regulations over animal experimentation that ensure the safety and comfort of the animals that are being experimented over. There are also - despite these efforts - researchers who mistreat animals and experiment on them in cruel ways. Because of human nature, there will always be those who follow the rules exactly and those that deliberately break them. The fact is animal experimentation when under regulation,

Some examples of these discoveries are, “In 1911, monkeys were found to be susceptible to measles. In 1914, mumps. In 1928, yellow fever.” (Derbyshire, Stuart. "Animal Experimentation Is Justified."). There are many medicines that came from these discoveries that we would not have otherwise. A more specific example would be the use of macaque monkeys in the developing research on human blood typing. Landsteiner, the researcher responsible for these discoveries “had won the Nobel Prize for his discoveries of blood types in humans in 1930” (Derbyshire, Stuart. "Animal Experimentation Is Justified”). He decided to continue his work and began to use macaque monkeys in his research and through this “In 1940 he discovered a blood factor shared by the macaques and humans: the so-called 'Rh' factor, short for rhesus.” (Derbyshire, Stuart. "Animal Experimentation Is Justified."). This breakthrough helped with the medical procedures involving blood transfusions. In fact, “Before the discovery of Rh factor, several thousand children were born brain damaged or dead due to Rh incompatibility. The majority of children in state mental hospitals were the result of Rh complications.” A more recent example of success in medical research is

Dr. Brian Ballios was studying the use of stem cells in curing blindness. He was experimenting on mice that had been born blind. Upon success, he found “not only that the cells were functioning, but that they were sending signals back to the brain” ("U of T Gel Advances Delivery of Stem-cell Treatment; Experiments on Mice Show Injections Have Promise for Human Regenerative Medicine in Dealing with Blindness and Strokes."). Other researchers like Dr. Ballios, have been using stem cell experiments to treat other conditions. An experiment done by “Michael Cooke, a postdoctoral researcher, treated brain tissue that was damaged in a manner that mimics the effects of stroke.” ("U of