What´s Animal Testing Necessary?

One of the most widely discussed issues is the argument over animal testing. Millions of animals at this moment are locked in cold cages of laboratories to be tested on. About 26.9 million animals each year are sacrificed and tested on under the name of medical research. All kinds of animals are needed for medical research such as amphibians, reptiles, birds, rats, mice, etc. Supporters say animal testing is beneficial for medical research and also a key discovery to all sorts of new cures and medicines. While others say animal testing is unreliable, cruel and wasting the lives of many. Key issues in this debate include whether animal testing is beneficial for medical research or animal testing is cruel and should be avoided.

Animal testing

In other words, “In ancient times, scientists made use of animals principally to satisfy anatomical curiosity. Early Greek physician-scientists performed experiments on living animals. Herophilus and Erasistratus, for example, examined sensory nerves, motor nerves, and tendons in order to understand their functional differences”(http://www.medicaldaily.com). The Greek physicians discovery meant something big and changed humans health not only the humans health but had many benefits to others around the world. Many laws have been passed throughout the years that have to due with animal testing. In fact, “The first federal law regulating animal research was the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act passed by Congress in 1966. This law covered the transport, sale, and handling of animals and provided for licensing of animal dealers to prevent pet theft and their sale to research facilities”(www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov). Many of the laws passed do not cover many of the most common animals used in medical

Some people reason why animal testing is needed, “Animal testing is essential to drug and vaccine research”(ic.galegroup.com). Using animals for drug and vaccine research is necessary because it is used to determine the safety of the medical product or how the drug reacts to humans or how fast, etc. People who support animal testing consider it as more reliable. It says here, “Chimpanzees share 99% of their DNA with humans, and mice are 98% genetically similar to humans. The United States and Gabon are the only two countries that allow experimentation on chimpanzees “(https://quizlet.com). Animals are relatively close to humans which is why we use animals to test because they show more of how the drug would turn out on humans so it gives researchers and scientists a more basic