These few words are enough to raise a heated debate. This is an issue of great importance because so many people feel deeply about it, whether they oppose it or support it, they are ready to defend their point of view. Many do not believe we have the right to subject animals to pain and suffering in laboratories. Others have not made up their minds, while others still believe the benefits to humanity are worth the sacrifice of animals. It is a truly complex issue, an issue that has no one set answer.
To begin I would like to discuss some of the basics about animal testing in order to generate a general idea of the topic. Animals form the bulk of medical research subjects. Animals are used in research to study living systems and to learn more about common animal and human disorders. Animal testing involves vivisection, the act of cutting into or dissecting the body of a living animal (McCoy, 1993).
There is a list of animals used in biomedical research. These include cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, rats, monkeys, chimpanzees, horses, cattle, sheep, goats, and swine. As far as how many animals are used each year, estimates vary according to the source. Estimates in animal rights literature range from twenty to seventy million. However, the Office of Technology Assessment gives a figure of seventeen to twenty million, of which ninety percent are rodents and about one to two percent are cats and dogs (McCoy, 1993).
There is a history behind animal testing in research. Animals have been used in research for more than two thousand years. In the third century B.C., Erasistratus of Alexandria used animals to study bodily function. Galen, who was born in 131 A.D., is considered the founder of experimental physiology. He used animals to prove his theory that veins carry blood and not air (Day, 1994). Rene Descartes, a famous historical philosopher, defended the practice of using animals in medical research.
