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Asked by carpet to Panos, Michael, Mark, Sarah on 14 Jun 2010 in Categories: General.
Question: why does animal testing happen, why do they only test on animals
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Michael Loughlin answered on 14 Jun 2010:
They don’t.. Most work looking at how ..say in my field, bacteria interatc with human or naimal cells happens with just that…animal cells or human cells, grown in the lab with no harm to any human or animal…but frequently with lots of harm to the bacteria
I have never taken part in animal experiments involving animal tissue or live animals, but have read of many experiments when they do.
Very often it is to try and mimic or copy our own bodies as closely as possible. If you want an antibiotic to kill bacteria you want to make sure it does so in the body, not just on an agar plate. So you might test it on cells, then animals and eventually human trials.
So its a way of checking the science is right before giving things to humans.
However i completely disagree with testing of cosmetics of animals…we don’t need copsmetics that badly..they don’t save lives ..drug treatments can
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Panos Soultanas answered on 14 Jun 2010:
Sometimes experiments on animals are justified because this is the only way to find out important information to make drugs effective and safe for humans. We always try to avoid using animals but if there is no other way then animals may be used to benefit humans. The regulations are very strict though and there must not be any other alternative if one wants to do experiments on animals. The wellfare of the animals is also very important and in most cases animals do not suffer at all. I personally don’t do any experiments on animals. I work with bacteria only.
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Sarah Burl answered on 14 Jun 2010:
For many medicines animal testing is essential to have a better understanding how a drug or vaccine will work in a living system. Animals are never a perfect substitute for humans but I would rather see how the drug/vaccine worked in an animal before it was given to a human. Some animals are better models of disease than others and this is important when designing the experiments for the drugs/ vaccines that you are testing. For tuberculosis the mouse is not a good model as it does not have the same systems of disease as a human but the rabbit and a zebra fish are better models. There are very strict guidelines with animal testing and I think the media often portray it sensationally in order to sell newspapers. To do any experiments on animals there has to be a thorough proposal that explains exactly what you are going to do and what the risks are of the animal suffering. An animal will not be allowed to suffer and if there is any evidence that they do then there will be tough measures to stop that research. In the UK this is controlled by the Home Office.
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Mark Travis answered on 14 Jun 2010:
Animal testing only happens when there is absolutely no alternatives. For example, animal testing is used for testing of drugs before they are allowed to be used in humans- to check that they aren’t going to have any terrible side effects.
It is not true that scientists only test on animals- there are a lot of non-animal models (like isolated cells) that compounds are tested on.
There is an organisation that is called the 3Rs- which scientists follow as much as they can. The Rs stand for:– replacement = if there is any different method that can be used that doesn’t involve animals and is suitable, use it
– reduction = if you absolutely have to use animals, use the absolute minimum you have to.
-refinement = improve the experiments so the animals used are under the least stress.So, scientists do not take testing on animals at all likely, and will only use them if there is no other way of realistically answering the important questions.
Comments
kempx commented on :
well i think it is sick to test on animals because they don’t have a say in things so it is agaisnt their rights ! ! ! ! ! !
just like you wouldn’t test on someone if they were agaisnt it ! ! ! ! !