Animal research refers to the use of animals in scientific experimentation and testing. Scientists have been doing it for many centuries with two main reasons. The first one is that they want to find out more about animals themselves and the second is that they want to test different substances and treatments to see if they can harm human beings. Therefore, by testing them on animals that serve as living bodies they make decisions whether or not medicines, new surgical techniques or even cosmetic products can be used on us. Only a few of them actually help scientists understand the biology of animals and diseases that afflict them.
Should Animals Be Used for Research?.
The number of animals that suffer and die every year in chemical, food, drug, cosmetic, weapon tests, biology lessons, agricultural researches, dog and cat food trials, car-crash simulations, medical trainings and experiments, is bigger more than hundred million. Animals can be used in medical experiments because they suffer diseases similar to humans. Virtually, every existing medical treatment today has involved animal testing, at least to some degree. Twenty million animals today are being used in all sorts of medical experiments every year. Most of them are rats and mice, although many other different species are also used in research, such as cats, dogs, farm animals, nonhuman primates and guinea pigs. Those animals can be captured in wild, or more likely, are breed especially for the purpose of testing. Today we have a strict demand for testing drugs on animals before they are available for consumer use. For example, in the United Kingdom, a new medicine must be tested on two different mammal species. A huge number of animals is also used for trying out surgical techniques, for instance transplanting organs.
Supporters of animal testing define it as an experimentation that uses animals for human benefits, which provides medical treatments and can save lives.