Benefits of Animal Testing in Medical Research

Introduction

Today, there is hardly any product — from shampoo to pharmaceutical drugs — that has not undergone animal testing before reaching the public marketplace. Without this research, many of the life-saving therapies available today would not exist.

Historical Background of Animal Experimentation

Human use of animals for experimental purposes dates from pre-Christian times. The Alexandrian physicians Herophilus and Erasistratus were the first to use living animals during the 3rd century B.C. Andreas Vesalius created the modern science of anatomy through systematic dissection of and experimentation on living animals during the mid-1500s, and William Harvey's demonstration of the circulation of the blood in 1628 relied on a combination of dissection and animal experimentation as well. During the 1820s and 1830s, François Magendie conducted extensive animal experiments that led to notable advances in neurophysiology. In the 1880s, the emergence of bacteriology and immunology hinged on experiments involving living animals.

Supporters of vivisection have always argued that such experiments provide great benefits for humankind — that animals suffer in order to prevent future human and animal suffering. Diabetes is most often cited as an example of a disease brought under control through a cure developed via animal experimentation, using insulin derived from animal bodies. Over the years, the number of animal experiments has steadily risen; by 1980, over five million experiments were being performed annually on vertebrates in Britain alone. The United States has taken an active role in encouraging the proper care and use of laboratory animals since 1896, when the National Institutes of Health was founded.

Regulatory Oversight and Common Laboratory Animals

Today, strict rules and procedures outlined by the NIH and a number of other public and private organizations ensure the ethical and sensitive use of animals in research. The United States Department of Agriculture's Animal Welfare Regulations are among the most important documents setting forth requirements for animal care and use by institutions employing animals in research, testing, and education, and have been in effect since 1985. Animals most frequently used in laboratories include rats, mice, guinea pigs, rabbits, and monkeys; when animals that closely resemble humans are needed, dogs and chimpanzees are used.

Animal experimentation is especially advantageous when offspring across several generations can be observed. For example, five generations of mice can be studied within a single year, whereas the same experiment using human subjects would require over a hundred years.

Major Medical Milestones Enabled by Animal Research

A number of the most significant medical milestones in modern history depended directly on animal research, including:

1900s — Corneal transplants and local anesthetics
1920s — Insulin for diabetics and canine distemper vaccine
1930s — Modern anesthetics and diphtheria vaccine
1940s — Broad-spectrum antibiotics for infections, whooping cough vaccine, and the heart-lung machine for open-heart surgery
1950s — Kidney transplants, cardiac pacemakers, replacement heart valves, polio vaccine, high blood pressure drugs, and hip replacement surgery
1960s — German measles vaccine, coronary bypass operations, heart transplants, and drugs to treat mental illness
1970s — Drugs to treat ulcers, asthma, and leukemia, as well as improved sutures and other surgical techniques
1980s — Drugs to control transplant rejection, CAT scanning for improved diagnosis, life support systems for premature babies, and drugs to treat viral diseases
1990s — Feline leukemia vaccine, meningitis vaccine, new cancer drugs, improved drugs for depression, and combined drug therapy for HIV infection

Conclusion

There are numerous animal rights groups that protest against the use of laboratory animals. However, it is difficult to comprehend that they could truly wish to turn back the clock to a time when society had no defense against diseases and disorders that are cured and preventable today — advances made possible in large part through the use of animal testing.