Animal testing for decades has been a long debated question in the scientific community. An estimated 26 million animals are used every year in the United States for scientific and commercial testing. Animal testing is a vital and common procedure that has raised controversy regarding if animal testing is ethical. The use of animal testing has allowed for the development of safe medicines, vaccines, and advancements in scientific knowledge. Without the sacrifices made during animal testing, we would not have made the achievements in medication, knowledge, cosmetics, and saving lives. Research in animals have played an important role in leading to new discoveries and human benefits. However, what many people tend to forget the great numbers
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Chimpanzees share 99% of their DNA with humans, and mice are 98% genetically similar to humans. (source N) Animals have the same set of organs that function essentially the same way as humans, because of this animals and humans are susceptible to many of the same conditions and illness, including heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Some argues that animals are very different from human beings and therefore make poor test subjects. In Source O, the anatomic, metabolic, and cellular differences between animals and people make animals poor models for human beings. It is also said that drug that is passed during animal testing are not necessarily safe. According to source Q, animal testing on the arthritis drug Vioxx showed that it had a protective effect on the hearts of mice, yet the drug went on to cause more than 27,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac death before being pulled from the market. Animal tests do not reliably predict results in human beings. According to Aysha Akhtar, over 100 stroke drugs that were effective when tested on animals have failed in humans, after working well in non-human primates and a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America found that nearly 150 clinical trials of treatments to reduce inflammation in critically ill patients have been undertaken, and all of them failed, despite being successful in animal tests. (Source S) Animal testing may also mislead researchers into ignoring potential cures and treatments. According to neurologist Aysha Akhtar in source R, said that Aspirin was almost “shelved,” because the chemicals were extremely harmful to animals even though it is proven that it is valuable when used by humans. With experiments failing in animals, it waste the lives of the animals subjects Since the majority of animals used in biomedical research are killed
Chimpanzees share 99% of their DNA with humans, and mice are 98% genetically similar to humans. (source N) Animals have the same set of organs that function essentially the same way as humans, because of this animals and humans are susceptible to many of the same conditions and illness, including heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Some argues that animals are very different from human beings and therefore make poor test subjects. In Source O, the anatomic, metabolic, and cellular differences between animals and people make animals poor models for human beings. It is also said that drug that is passed during animal testing are not necessarily safe. According to source Q, animal testing on the arthritis drug Vioxx showed that it had a protective effect on the hearts of mice, yet the drug went on to cause more than 27,000 heart attacks and sudden cardiac death before being pulled from the market. Animal tests do not reliably predict results in human beings. According to Aysha Akhtar, over 100 stroke drugs that were effective when tested on animals have failed in humans, after working well in non-human primates and a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America found that nearly 150 clinical trials of treatments to reduce inflammation in critically ill patients have been undertaken, and all of them failed, despite being successful in animal tests. (Source S) Animal testing may also mislead researchers into ignoring potential cures and treatments. According to neurologist Aysha Akhtar in source R, said that Aspirin was almost “shelved,” because the chemicals were extremely harmful to animals even though it is proven that it is valuable when used by humans. With experiments failing in animals, it waste the lives of the animals subjects Since the majority of animals used in biomedical research are killed