Animal Experimentation

Human beings have long conducted scientific experiments on animals in an attempt to learn more about the inner workings of their own bodies. The ancient Greek physician Galen routinely dissected living animals--a practice known as vivisection--to study their nervous, respiratory and digestive systems. Although much of his scientific "discoveries" would later be disproved, Galen's vivisectionexperiments on pigs, apes and dogs proved to be highly influential among the ancient Greeks.

Every year, an estimated 30 million animals are used in biomedical experiments and research projects. Rats, mice, guinea pigs, dogs, monkeys and rabbits are just a few of the types of animals used by private companies and universities to test the safety of drugs and other newly developed products. The Foodand Drug Administration (FDA) requires that all newly developed drugs, both over-the-counter and prescription, be tested on animals before being approved for human consumption. Rodents such as mice, rats and guinea pigs comprise roughly 95% of the animals used in biomedical research. The remaining 5% includes monkeys, fish, birds, cats, dogs and many others, although testing on larger animals anddomesticated species has plummeted in the last several decades.
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Many animal rights activists oppose the use of animals in medical research, arguing that it is cruel and morally indefensible. Animals used in research are often subjected to conditions that cause them "pain and distress," in the words of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees animal research. U.S. lawrequires that researchers administer painkillers to lab animals unless those drugs would skew the results of the test. However, mice, rats and birds--which comprise more than 90% of the animals tested in the U.S.--are exempt from that requirement. Nearly all animals used for research purposes are killed after the experiments are over.

Advocates also maintain that it is morally justified touse animals in sometimes dangerous and painful experiments because they contribute to the greater good. Proposed alternatives to animal testing--including experiments performed using tissue samples, cell cultures and computer modeling--have not proven to be useful or accurate.

Animal testing's opponents contend that human beings have an ethical responsibility to treat animals with respect. Peopleinvolved in animal testing exploit animals as though they were objects, subjecting them to extreme pain and suffering, opponents maintain. Many followers of animal rights also argue that animal testing has little to no scientific merit. The bodily functions of rats, for example, are vastly different from those of human beings, they say. Therefore, most data collected by animal researchers are basicallyuseless, resulting only in the painful deaths of scores of defenseless animals, opponents assert.

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Animals are widely seen as useful subjects for medical experimentation because they are so genetically similar to human beings. Researchers affiliated with the Human Genome Project, a research project that created a working model of the human genome (the sequence of base parts of all thehuman genes) in 2004, say that rodents--particularly mice--are nearly identical to human beings in their genetic composition.

The fact that most lab animals are killed, combined with the pain often inflicted during the testing, has led some animal researchers to admit that they sometimes experience a certain amount of mental anguish in the workplace. Anneke Keizer-Zucker, a researcher at aPennsylvania consulting group, said that participating in animal testing was initially "tough to get used to" and that she would often come home from work "mentally exhausted."

Many new vaccines and surgical procedures have been directly derived from experimentation on animals.

Supporters Argue That Animal Testing Is Necessary
Supporters maintain, if animal testing did not exist, what would...