Animal Testing In Medical Research

Since the fifteenth century, animal testing been utilized for medical research, but did not become prevalent until the 1800’s. At this time is when people started to protect the animals, claiming that they had feelings and that it was immoral to continue testing on them. Today, animal testing is a very controversial topic with dozens of stances on what is acceptable and what is not. Animal research has helped us as humans make huge medical advances. Not only in the medical field but in psychology, where psychologists monitor animals under different conditions so that we can better understand how these conditions might affect people. Environmentalists use animal testing to help better preserve and protect the rest of their species that may …show more content…
Many technologies like MRI scanning, micro-dosing, and computer modeling, have been thought to eventually replace testing on animals all together. Although animal testing has proven to be rather expensive, the benefits that come from it are difficult to be replicated. “While alternative technologies will reduce the reliance on animals for testing, they cannot replace animal testing altogether” (It Is Not Possible). Those who oppose animal testing throw out the fact that animal research is very expensive. This is true, but the fact that we continue to use it is testament to the fact that for this research there is sometimes no alternative and animals must be used. Under the Animal Welfare Regulations, alternatives must be used, by law, whenever possible. The researchers must consider if an alternative is possible prior to experimentation. “The principal investigator (researcher) has considered alternatives to procedures ... and has provided a written narrative description ... to determine that alternatives were not available” (It Is Not Possible). Again, this just proves that sometimes there isn’t an alternative that can be utilized and that animal research is the only means of conducting the research needed. Those who oppose animal testing just don’t seem to understand that their lives depend …show more content…
Every year, more than 25 million animals are used for scientific research in the U.S. alone. Of those 25 million animals, more than 90 percent of them are mice (Ericson). Over 90 percent of the animals used aren’t monkeys or dogs or cats or any of the animals people wouldn’t see as “pests”. Beginning in the 1980’s, transgenesis, which is the science of genetic engineering, has produced a nearly eternal series of biomedical developments. Along with the use of transgenesis, the use of primates has risen, but the use of mice has skyrocketed. These mice are bred for scientific research and are often regarded as one of the lowest animals in the animal kingdom (Ericson). I like to think of it like this; every animal has is job or place in the world. This unlimited supply of mice’s job is to help us humans create medical advancements which helps prolong human lives. The life of a mouse prolonging the future of the human race seems like we need mice to be tested on. But since the 1950’s, the concern for regarding lab animals has risen from under 10 percent to 43 percent in 2014. In 2013, a bill died for the fourth time in Congress which would have ended invasive research on animals. But let’s just think about what would have happened if that bill would have passed. Frankie Trull, science advocate and president of the Foundation for Biomedical Research, said "An immediate