The Pros And Cons Of Animal Testing

Animal testing has always been an immense controversy. As people, we all have different opinions and moral values, and this definitely effects how we see things. Of course this means that everyone has something dissimilar to say about the issue of testing on animals. However, who is to say whether it is truly right or wrong to use animals in the process of discovering in the medical field? Pros

According to The California Biomedical Research Association, most of the advancements in medicine in the last 100 years have been because of animal testing. (Should animals be, 2014) In this way, we can assume that animal research is a big factor in the way our medical system works and how we prevent and eliminate disease. Testing on animals not only

Computer science has come a long way, but nothing can imitate the human brain like an actual brain can. It is reasoned that complex organs are simply too complex to be substituted. Likewise, animal research has to be used to create programs that are otherwise used.

Another idea that supports research is that the amount of animals used is a small price to pay for cures. “People in the United States eat 9 billion chickens and 150 million cattle, pigs and sheep annually, yet we only use around 26 million animals for research.” In addition to this, a very large majority of the animals used are rodents. (Should animals be, 2014) This means that more animals are being harmed by human consumption than by lab testing.

Animal Research can also be shown helpful to test the safety of the drug before use on humans. This shows us if there are any side effects or dangers to taking the drug without experiencing it firsthand. (Murnaghan, 2013) Rats are a good example of this, because they live such short lives. Scientists can track how a drug affects generations of rats without spending unnecessary time through generations of

The scientist must take care of housing and food for the animal as well as whatever is needed for the drug experimentation. The cost of the animal itself also needs to be taken into account. Alternative methods are less expensive to conduct.

It can take a large amount of time to find a cure or treatment by means of animal experimentation. When a person is sick with something we don’t have a cure for, it is important to look for a medication quickly. The person is suffering and could possibly die if not treated within a reasonable amount of time. Animal trials can take anywhere from months to years to conclude evidence from. Another simple fact is that animals are not humans. No matter how similar the animal is to a human, it will never actually be a human. This means that there are differences in the way humans and animals react to drugs. Research on Alzheimer’s drugs show that 99 percent of the treatments that worked for rats were not effective on people. (Pollard-Post,