One obvious reason animal testing should continue is the opportunity for medical advancement. Over the years testing on animals has helped to create countless vaccines and develop many groundbreaking surgeries. The early Greeks began conducting tests on animals before anyone else. The great men that conducted these experiments made tremendous impacts on the history of medicine. The experiments expanded the early philosopher’s knowledge of anatomy and pharmacology. They began to use animals to test experimental surgical procedures before they were performed on humans (Hajar). Currently, the use of animals for medical research is under great criticism from animal rights activist. Those against the test are not looking at the topic with a scientific mind. In the 1930’s, a pharmaceutical company in the United States developed a drug that was poisonous to humans. The toxicity of the new medicine was unknown due to the lack of animal testing that was employed. This led to a mass poisoning of more than one hundred Americans. In 1938, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed requiring pre-market safety testing on new medications. Today the use of animals in research is greatly regulated and is used only when necessary to further the advancement of medicine (Hajar). Anyone who has taken a medication or has undergone any type of surgical procedure has benefited from animal research. Animal testing has lead to breakthroughs in the research of: Alzheimer’s Disease, cancer, cholesterol, Cystic Fibrosis, diabetes, Ebola, epilepsy, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, HIV, Leukemia, Malaria, mental health, organ transplants, paralysis, Parkinson’s Disease, Polio, and Smallpox (“Animal Research Achievements”). The staff at the Foundation for Biomedical Research states, “Research in cows helped create the world’s first vaccine, which in turn helped end smallpox. Studies with monkeys, dogs, and mice led to the polio vaccine. Drugs used to combat cancer, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Hepatitis, and Malaria would not have been possible without research with primates”(“Animal Research Achievements”). Animal rights activist must look past the moral aspect of testing animals and think about the medical innovation.
Animal rights activists criticize scientists for conducting experiments on animals. They fail to consider the benefits that animals can receive from testing. The spread of new and evolving diseases is a serious issue across the world. Just as scientists develop new vaccines for humans, the same can be done for certain breeds of animals. Many large organizations such as the National Institutes of Health no longer support invasive research on chimpanzees. The reason these experiments were halted is because controversy about government funded chimpanzee experimentation was at an all time high (Gonchar). Many are pleased with the decision to discontinue the research, but the majority understand the horrible effects that will stem from this decision. Disease is one of the biggest factors leading to the decline in population of wild chimpanzees and gorillas, Gonchar writes, “…the Ebola virus has in recent decades killed perhaps one-third of the world’s gorilla population and an untold number of chimpanzees.” The efforts to develop vaccines for Ebola, Malaria, respiratory viruses and other diseases that are killing these animals could stop. The only solution to the extinction of apes in Africa is oral vaccination. If vaccine laced baits were dropped in the jungles of Africa, they could possibly help wild gorillas and chimpanzees build an immunity to the many diseases they face. Developing the vaccines is not going to be a problem considering the anatomical similarities between apes and humans. The problem is that the African authorities will not let any vaccines be dropped before they are tested on research chimpanzees (Liptak). They do not want to risk the health of the endangered species if the vaccines have not been proven safe and effective on other apes. If tests on captive chimpanzees do not continue, the lives of thousands of wild apes could be at risk.
The opposing side believes that no animals should be tested on for any reason. The animal rights activist bring out several points in their reasoning. They believe that the testing of animals is unethical and that the results of animal test have no bearing on human results. They fail to recognize the accomplishments and advance that have came from animal testing. Debates about animal testing have been fought for hundreds of years. Theodore Roosevelt said concerning the subject, “Common sense without conscience may lead to crime, but conscience without common sense may lead to folley, which is the handmaiden of crime” (qtd. in Hajar). The leading factor in the fight against animal testing is conscience. The activist are blinded by conscience and fail to take common knowledge into account. The activist think that they are supported by major makeup brands that claim they no longer test on animals. Brands such as Estee Lauder, Clinique, and Benefit all publicly stress that they do not participate in animal testing, yet they outsource their production to China where testing on animals is mandated. The medicines that they use and the procedures they have undergone all stem from animal testing. The uneducated activist stress that the results of an animal test have absolutely no bearing in the results of human results (Kangas). It is proven that the anatomical similarities between many animals and humans presents the opportunity for very conclusive test results. Animals do make great companions and they love unconditionally, but in this situation the route of a logical thought process should be taken (Hajar). When it comes between the life of a human and the life of an animal, the human life should be chosen every time.