Human Benefits of Animal Testing
In an ideal world we wouldn't test medicine and products on animals, but sometimes animal testing provides the only alternative to human testing. Animal testing often saves human lives. However, animal testing does have flaws that cause science to look for a better alternative.
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Identification
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Scientists and business use animals for clinical trials to determine the safety and effectiveness of products, according to The Humane Society of the United States. Government law usually requires companies to test products before allowing them on the consumer market. Most drugs we take have been through animal testing.
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Reduces Human Experimentation
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In some cases, a pretrial product poses a level of risk that is too high to test on humans. Medication needs to be tested on a working biological system to determine its effectiveness, according to a June 17, 2008, article in Time magazine. Although the ideal product experimentation would take place in humans, sometimes no willing participants exist. Animals such as mice provide a close approximation to the results of a product for human use.
Speedier Testing
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Animals that have short life spans, such as rodents, allow researchers to test clinical trials at many different stages of life in a short span of time, reports Time. Compounds often have different effects on young people and the elderly. Instead of finding many different ages of people for testing, you can simply breed new populations of animals.
Saves Lives
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Testing products on animals often saves human life, claims Avert, an HIV awareness organization. Most drugs must go through clinical testing on animals before approval by the government. These drugs often go on to save lives. Without testing on animals, scientists would have to estimate the effects on humans, likely resulting in lower quality medicine that does not always work.
Disadvantage
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Although animal testing receives much criticism from animal rights activists, scientists such as Frankie Trull, president of the nonprofit Foundation for Biomedical Research, would like an alternative. Animal testing requires trying to find the right type of animal to test a product, according to Time. Animals are often allergic to some common substances that human are not, such as chocolate. Some types of monkeys are resistant to forms of HIV, and thus a poor choice for HIV drug testing, according to Avert.
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