Without animal research we wouldn’t have antibiotics for infections, vaccines to prevent diseases, insulin to treat Diabetes, or surgeries to treat the injured. If fundamental research stopped people would be suffering more than ever and more lives would be lost, so do you want cancer to be cured? Or Influenza, Aids, Diabetes, and Asthma? Well, what if one day you were diagnosed with a deadly disease that couldn’t be cured and the doctor told you that you only had a few months to live? How would you feel? Well, scientists and doctors are trying to find solutions to these viruses and diseases by testing animals so that people won’t have to be put through this. Animal Testing is a controversial topic because doctors and scientists are trying to keep humans alive and healthy while making sure animals are kept safe and healthy too. As more people are becoming prone to deadly diseases, scientists and doctors are trying to find unquestionably the best treatments, cures, and vaccines.

Furthermore of animal testing, there have been many new and improved vaccines and medications for people to take that are without a doubt much safer. The Animal Healthcare Clinic states, “Diseases like Polio, Tetanus, Measles, and Chicken Pox now have dozens vaccines created by testing animals. Thanks to animal research arthritis, tuberculosis, infertility, several forms of cancer and heart disease also now have advanced treatments.” This research of advanced treatments will soon lead to cures. The Foundation of Biomedical Research states, “Nearly every major medical advancement of the 20th century has depended largely on research with animals. Our best hope for developing preventions, treatments, and cures for diseases such as Alzheimer, AIDs, and cancer will also involve biomedical research using animals.
In addition animals are the closest things to humans to be tested on. They receive very similar results on products and treatments as humans would. Therefore they are the best and obvious things for scientists to study. Scientists use certain types of animals for different reasons. First they try to find an animal with types of physical characteristics that can be used to create a treatment for humans or they are studied because they have something most in common with humans that other animals don’t. Frogs for instance, their skin contains nerve endings, which produce antibiotic substances that fight infections and allow wounds to heal much quicker. Squids in this case have big and simple cells and organs that help scientists learn and understand more about the basic biological processes. Horseshoe Crabs in another case have very similar eyes to humans so they are studied to help improve human eyesight. Furthermore, snakes have a special type of chemical in their venom that can help prevent people from getting high blood pressure. Lastly, rodents are used to study many things; such as Cancer, hypertension, nerve and spinal injury, nutrition, the brain, and much more. To conclude, animals play a very important role in the study of medicine and research.

People against animal testing mostly disagree with it when animals are consumed to pain. On the other hand, animals aren’t always subjected to pain. When animals are said to be tested, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be subjected to a vivisection, surgery. The most common tests are skin tests. The second most common test procedures are eye drops. With this in mind, these procedures aren’t of much harm to the animal and aren’t as drastic as others think to believe.

Equally important, if a scientist is worried about putting such chemicals on an animal then they would give it pain killers or something that would ease or numb the pain so that the animal wouldn’t have to suffer. Scientists always follow a policy that’s called, “The Three R’s.” “The Three R’s: First tests are refined as humanly as possible before used on animals. Second the numbers of animals used in studies are reduced. Third the replacement found for using animals whenever possible,” stated by an Animal Researcher. Scientists don’t use animals for experiments until after they’ve studied the possible alternatives. However some animal right advocates state, “It’s unethical for animals to be used in experiments because they cannot give their consent.” On the contrary many different associations in fact protect animals. An association called the AWA (American Welfare Association) governs the use of animals in research; rodents can be used as much as they want because their species isn’t limited, as there is an overpopulation of them. Rodents are the most commonly used animals to be tested on; not only because there is an unlimited amount of them, but also because they produce the closest human results. As states by researchers, “The genetic makeup of rats and mice are 85% as those of people.” Also that, “To get similar results we would on a human, we test the substance on rodents, rather than humans.” Most people just assume that animals of all kind are used and mistreated in labs, but that’s not the case. Scientists and researchers use only the animals they need and treat them well as they are only testing them to find solutions. Plus 95% of animals used in science labs are mice and rats. Another association called the AMA (American Medical Association) supports limited number of animals used in labs. In the long run, rodents have helped scientist and researchers overcome diseases for many years.

In the past there was a time when chimpanzees were a medical favorite for scientists to study because of their similarity with humans. There were 90,000 of them being studied. This caused them to be endangered. Some countries now ban the use of studying Chimpanzees. Although this may be true, we wouldn’t have been where we are today with all of our advancements and knowledge on biology and many other things without the study of these amazing creatures. By the same token, Chimpanzees were soon stopped being used by all Medical Fields to get wiped off the extinction list. After they were, some scientists started using them and some even waited until there was a more abundant amount of them. This wasn’t the only incident that occurred the public’s attention in the past. “In 18th Century there was a widespread protest against vivisection in Britain. Though, in 1894 a vaccine was developed using animals against a deadly disease called Ditherier. Antivivisectionists, those that oppose animal research, had then lost their influence on the public’s opinion,” stated by an Animal Research Association. As can be seen, animal research even back then helped people to live a healthier and better life. Something else in the past also made a big impact on today. The ARA also stated, “In 1682 British doctor called Dr. William Harvey discovered how blood circulates by the use of animal research. This was one of the most important contributions to history of medicine. For this reason the use of animals in Biomedical Research is undeniably important.

Due to those that oppose animal research, they state, “ There are alternatives to animal testing like computer models and clinical trials to use humans.” Regardless that those things are true, those alternatives are very risky to use and then create a product for. Computer models can act up and don’t give accurate information therefore its very difficult for researchers to detect the cause. As for clinical human trials most people don’t want to be tested. Furthermore, an antivivisectionist point of view is usually that they are more compassionate for animals than humans as they would rather have humans than animals studied. In reality many scientists and researchers defend the practice of using animals for research. Those against animal research state they know what’s right and defend their compassion towards animals; if they knew what was really right, they would also defend their own kind.

In conclusion, animal testing is a delicate subject to decide what’s for the better of all living and breathing things. There are two points of views; those who oppose and those who support it. Regardless that there are some negatives, the positives emphatically outweigh the negatives. Those positives are changing people’s lives everyday making a huge impact on them. Lives being saved, medicine being created to cure, new advanced and improved vaccines formed, deadly diseases treated as if they were infections, quicker and faster surgeries without risk, allowing people to live as healthy and normal as possible. Support animal research and change the lives of others.