There have been some situations in the past that proved a drug to be harmful for humans although it proved safe for animals. For example, in the 1950s, thalidomide, the sleeping pill, caused approximately 10,000 human babies to be born with severe physical deformities and mental disabilities. When the drug was tested on animals, it was proven to be safe. Tests on pregnant mice, rats, guinea pigs, cats, and hamsters did not result in birth defects unless the drug was administered at extremely high doses. Although thousands of people are against animal testing, there are still pros to it. Animals are appropriate research subjects because they are similar to human beings in many ways. Chimpanzees, for example, are 99% genetically alike to humans. Because every mammal, including humans, descended from a common ancestor, they have all the same set of organs that function in essentially the same way. Because animals and humans are biologically similar, they are susceptible to many of the same conditions and illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, and …show more content…
Nearly 50 different alternative methods and testing strategies have been validated and accepted. An example of one alternative is using blood from human volunteers to test for the presence of contaminants in intravenous medicines can save hundreds of thousands of rabbits each year from the traditional “pyrogen” test. Moreover, laboratories and companies such as EpiSkin and EpiDerm, use artificial human skin to test certain cosmetics. This can save thousands of animals from the painful skin corrosion and irritation tests each