Animal testing: ethics and alternatives

Animal Testing

The Use of Animals in Drug Testing

Animal testing extracts strong opinions from both those for and those against the practice. There are two main reasons why animals are used in scientific experimentation for drug testing. The first is to make sure the safety of new drugs and other pharmaceutical products. The second is to see how these drugs might be effective in humans (De Boer, 2009). The testing of drugs on animals is a very important process that is necessary in order to facilitate the research and development of new drugs for humans.

The testing of drugs on humans typically comes at the end of a long process of safety data collection. This may include testing the product in a test-tube and using a computer program to simulate what might happen to the drug inside the body and the testing of the drugs on animals. The policies on what safety data is required for a new product vary from country to country and also from drug to drug, but most drug authorities require all three types of data, animal, in vitro and computer generated (De Boer, 2009). This is what makes drug testing on animals so very important in the pharmaceutical industry.