The world as we know it has progressed through a series of changes throughout the last couple of centuries. Almost all of this progress can be traced back to technology. Technology has allowed humans to do everything from flying a plane to creating clones. Along with the economical and educational benefits of technology have come medical advances. The phenomenal success of medicine throughout the 20th century can be attributed mainly to technology and the brilliant minds that applied it to medicine. However, the advancement of medicine and human health has not come without costs. One such cost is that in order to find new and more effective forms of treatment, scientists have sacrificed many animals in their testing and research. This has raised the moral question of whether animals should or should not be used in medical research? Although there are some legitimate concerns in addressing this topic, we as humans must answer this question with an emphatic yes!.
However, by saying that animals should be used in medical testing and research, we must recognize our obligations and responsibilities to these animals. We must not lose sight of the overall goals of the testing and research being done: to find cures for diseases and disorders and to ease pain and suffering (and that goes for all species). Scientists must also continue to use Russell and Burch's "three Rs" as a guideline for research and continue to look for newer and better alternative methods of research. New test-tube research is a perfect example of the new techniques that scientists have and must continue to use in place of animals. As humans continue to gain more knowledge we must also realize the errors of our past ways, and there is evidence that we have. For example, the overall number of animals being used has decreased all over the world. There has also been a dramatic decrease in the amount of experiments that intentionally inflict discomfort and/or pain on animal subjects.