Animal Testing Pros

It has been a very common practice to test a household compounds, cosmetics and pharmaceutical products on animals for a very long time. As a matter if fact, it has been estimated that nearly 20 million animals are used for testing and are killed annually. Out of these, 15 million are tested for medication and 5 million are tested for other products. Reports also indicate that about 10% of these animals are not administered with adequate pain killers.

Across the world, new products ranging from cancer drugs to soaps and shampoos are tested on the animals. There are many questions regarding the ethics of using animals for testing. Hence, several regulations have been put in place that evaluate and control the animals that are being used for testing purposes. It is believed that these regulations will ensure that research is carried out in as humane and as ethical manner as possible. However, these regulations are also under a lot of argumentation.

A survey conducted in the American Medical Association indicates that 99% of all active physicians in the United States believe that animal research has given rise to medical advancements. In fact, about 97% of the physicians also supported the continuous use if animals for clinical and basic research. The main reason behind this is the fact that scientists have found that there is very little or difference between the lab animals and humans. A British organization by the name Research Defense Society (RDS) that was instituted to defend animal testing indicates that most of the complaints made against animal testing are not correct and also that animal testing generates invaluable information about how new drugs would react inside a living body. The tests have to be continued in order to detect information of any major health problems that can be caused by the drugs like liver damage, enhanced blood pressure, nerve damage and damages to the fetus

Animal Testing Pros

When every member in our family is hale and hearty, it is very difficult to understand as to why the innocent animals are used for testing purposes that usually ends up killing them. But it usually starts to make more sense when someone in the family or you yourself starts suffering from a life threatening disease. It is a very symbiotic relationship that is also a very integral part of medical research. Testing on animals has helped develop vaccines for many life threatening diseases like Herpes Simplex, Hepatitis B, Polio, rabies, malaria, mumps and virus related to organ transplantation rejection. In addition to this, animal testing has also helped in the refinement of procedures related to measuring the blood pressure, pacemaker technology and the perfection of the heart and lung diseases. You will be surprised to read that anesthesia which is used to numb the body during surgery and acute pain is available today after it was successfully tested on animals first.

Human beings are not the only living creatures that have benefited from animal testing. Heart worm medication was devised from research on animals and has to day helped in saving the lives of many dogs. Animal research has also provided better understanding of cat nutrition and the reasons behind as to why cats live longer and remain healthier are better understood.

Finding a cure and a vaccine for AIDS has become one of the most important goals of the medical research industry. The animal models for AIDS are a very important part of the research as they help in understanding the biology of immune-deficiency viruses.

The fact of the matter is that to make advances in the field of medicines, animal testing is a must. Restraining or banning the testing by animal activists will not help in any way. It is up to us and all individuals belonging to animal organizations and medical research to ensure that the same is carried out in a safe, ethical manner causing as little pain and discomfort possible to the animal. If animal testing was to be outlawed then there would be very little scope of obtaining information that would be very necessary to eliminate suffering and premature deaths in both humans and animals.