The issue of animal testing is definitely very controversial and highly discussed, so it is not easy to choose which side to be on because there are good arguments on both sides. However, I have to say that after reading many articles and arguments from both - proponents and opponents - I'm a proponent of animal testing.
Not that like the idea of animals being locked up in labs, but I figured that this is just a sacrifice we have to make in order to develop new medicaments and vaccinatinons. The main reason why animals are crucial for researches is that the tests need to be carried out on whole-body systems so that we can see the reactions of individual parts of the body. If we performed the tests only on cells in a petri dish, there is no way for us to see how the body reacts since there is none! Also, given that animals are very biologically similar to humans, they are susceptible to similar diseases, therefore the benefits for humankind can be enormous!!
Speaking about the horrible stories that you might have read somewhere about the conditions that animals live in, I think that as terrible as they sound, they're a bit exaggerated because in most countries there is a law that protects animals from any mistreatment and the tests themselves are highly regulated.
It's nicely written. I must oppose you, though =D. It's purposeless to carry out research on animals as they are, as you stated in the post, biologically only 'similar.' Being similar doesn't mean being of the same cells, proportions or genes. Moreover, there are volunteers all over the world willing to undertake those kinds of research to help in the medical development. Why are humans always thinking first of conducting research on animals?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you Táňa, and I also support animal testing because as you suggested, some species are biologically similar to us so we can safely test our drugs and whatnot on animals and then test on humans in the final stage of the testing process.
ReplyDeleteWhy are we using animals and not people for such testing? Well, testing animal testing is always significantly safer and cheaper, it’s simple as that.