Animal Testing

Since 1997, when undercover footage of a research lab ignited an international campaign, the ongoing controversy over animal testing has avoided spectacular media attention. For the purposes of medicine, cosmetics and exploratory research, at least 50 million animals are tested on and processed each year around the world. Critics of animal testing protest that most procedures are unnecessary and that regulation like the Animal Welfare Act of 1996 is atrociously inadequate. Defenders propose a choice between human and animal welfare, noting advancements like transplant technology and penicillin that were largely based on animal tests.

Scientific Alternatives to Animal Testing: A Progress Report

Kara Rogers - The use of animals to better understand human anatomy and human disease is a centuries-old practice. Animal research has provided valuable information about many physiological processes that are relevant to humans and has been fundamental in the development of many drugs, including vaccines, anesthetics, and antibiotics. Animals and humans are similar in many ways. Animal behaviour can be as complex as human behaviour, and the cellular structures, proteins, and genes of humans and animals are so similar that the prospect of using animal tissues to replace diseased human tissues is under intense investigation for patients who would otherwise...

Why Animal Testing is Humane and Necessary

mentoni - I do consider myself an animal lover and as someone who has had pets almost her entire life, the idea of them suffering in any way would break my heart. However, the suffering of countless people and animals across the world due to diseases, both mental and physical, is by far the worse of two evils. Of all the different reasons animals are used by humans, only 0.3 percent are used for research and education and fifty times more pets die in humane societies per year due to being abandoned or mistreated by their owners than animals dying in labs for research. Also, while some animals will have to die in the name of research, animal researchers...

11.9.07

03:38 PM -

Tears of Shame

Anonymous - Which is the only species on the planet that sadistically tortures apes in order to test beauty products? You guessed it, the homo sapien. What is the point of banning land mines and cluster bombs if at the same time we're going to continue macing rabbits in the face with chanel number 5. If women actually knew where their concealer cream and nail polish were coming from they would burst into tears of shame.

03:32 PM -

No regulation, no oversight

Anonymous - If we're using dogs to test for transplant technology, i don't really have a huge problem with that - although I am a k-9 lover in the depths of my soul. But cosmetics? I mean, honestly. That's outrageous. We also barely regulate how labs can treat animals. Any lab can treat its test subjects poorly with impunity to save a buck. I'm not for huge government programs, but a little legislation with a side of oversight might be a good idea.

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