Animal Experiments

Animal experiments have always been a sensitive topic. Some people can tolerate experimentation with animals to conduct medical research. However, if animals are used to test the safety of cosmetics or soaps, they will never be tolerated.This helps people identify whether medicines and other products are safe for humans.

This kind of experiment has been ancient and is not uncommon, as early as 500 BC. The people used animals to conduct experiments. There is currently no alternative method to detect how a substance will react in a complex organism.

So can you use animals to do the test? Personally, I think animal experiments are necessary for these days.

I divided the article into four parts. The first part briefly describes what animal experiments are, the second part is the pros and cons of animal experiments, the third part is how to reduce the harm caused by animal experiments to animals, and the fourth part is personal opinions and to sum up.

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Definition of animal experiments

Animal experiments refer to the use of animals for scientific research in laboratories to obtain new knowledge about biology or medicine or to solve specific problems. Animal tests must be conducted by or under the guidance of trained personnel with a research degree or technical expertise.

 The significance of animal experiments

First of all, animal experiments are indispensable, and each new drug is required to have an animal experiment on the market. It can neither be directly tested nor find a particularly useful alternative method. Therefore, it must be carried out to protect human rights.

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Animals can be used to test new ones. The drugs cannot be proved by humans when the role of the drugs is unknown. They have to use animals. They also have to test the toxicity of some viruses or bacteria.

They can't use humans to do experiments. They have to use animals. When precious animals are sick, they are separated. Pathogens also need to be tested with mice and other animals, because these animals reproduce quickly, and the cost is low. Therefore, animal experiments have significant value in recent disease diagnosis and biotechnology research.

Furthermore, the world’s high-tech development is changing with each passing day, and experimental animal science, which has grown up under the auspices of modern science, is not only an essential supporting condition for the development of life sciences in this century, but also a comprehensive and independent emerging discipline.

At the international level, it has become the foundation stone for modern life science research. The human genome project, gene structure and functional group studies and other vital analyses are indispensable for the full application of high-quality experimental animals. At present, the exact conditions of laboratory animals have been used as a symbol of a nation’s level of scientific and technological modernization.

Advantages of animal experiments

  • Save human life

Without animal experiments, it would be impossible for people with diabetes to use insulin to save lives. Polio is a disease that afflicts parents around the world. It can cause children to paralyze or even die. It is heartbreaking. Knight(2011) states that “Since the introduction of the appropriate vaccine in the world in 1988, the number of cases of polio has decreased by 99%.

This malignant disease makes patients miserable. At present, only three countries in the world are suffering from it.” Parents in other countries can rest easy because their children need just be vaccinated to stay away from the disease. If we did not research on monkeys suffering from this disease, it would be impossible to achieve such extraordinary achievements today.

Treatments for leukemia, antibiotics, anesthetics, and other research advances have been made on animals. Experimenting with animals is not limited to the treatment of diseases. Nowadays, organ transplant surgery has been recognized and become quite common (perhaps surprising). After the first kidney transplant operation was successful, the technique was used in dogs to do experiments.
According to an earlier study (Cohn 2010) it is argued that“It is not only humans who benefit from the experiment.

If not initially tested on animals, there will be more than 80 disease-prevention treatments that will never be discovered. These treatments were intended for use in humans but are now being used on other animals, such as vaccination against rabies, parvovirus, and leukemia”. Animal experiments can even save the endangered species. The most remarkable result is the rescue of California vultures and black planthoppers. And these benefits cannot be replaced by other methods.

  • The life cycle of experimental animals is often very short

Most of the animals used in experimental studies (such as mice, frogs, etc.) have a short life cycle and strong reproductive capacity. This means that researchers can not only detect the effect of a particular drug on the animal's entire lifespan, but even whether it will affect its offspring. (As mentioned above, to prevent the recurrence of such events as thalidomide, it is now required that such drugs be tested in pregnant animals before being marketed.)

  • Animals are more suitable for replacing complex human bodies than computer models

The complexity of the human body is so incredible that it is difficult to simulate accurately with a computer model. We can do some critical experiments on cell lines, but this cannot reproduce the complicated process of internal human, but cannot be used to predict the side effects of a substance on the internal organs of the human body.

Taking hypertension as an example, some diseases are complex and changeable. To study it, we must place it in a properly functioning, interconnected biological system. With the development of experimental animal alternatives, the early stages of the experiment rely on computer simulation models to complete, perhaps will become possible.

However, it is only possible because how to design and build these models must also be based on the results of animal experiments. The speed of reflection (especially the brain) of some organs goes far beyond what our fastest and most advanced computers can simulate. People tried to build a mouse brain model to run in 10 seconds, but found that the response rate of the rat brain was ten times slower than that of the real mouse.

This model is designed with the world's most powerful computer. It has more processing power than the machines used in ordinary laboratories. At present, computer simulation experiments can replace some of the animal experiments that must be completed before human trials, but by no means all.

Conclusion

Without animal experiments, we may not find these drugs that treat diabetes or asthma today; we may not be able to prevent diseases such as polio; we may not know how to perform organ transplants, nor do we know how to install pacemakers from an ethical perspective In terms of applying experimental results to various clinical stages, it is necessary to verify the feasibility of animals with animals or other alternatives. When they are actually used in humans, they need to be more cautious.

Experimenting with animals may not be the ideal way. We are also trying our best to find alternatives. We also hope that animals do not need to be used for experiments any day. However, in the current situation, animal experiments are still essential.

Reference

  • Andrew Knight.(2011). The Costs and Benefits of Animal Experiments. Animals. BBC. (n.d). Experimenting on animals. April 20, 2018. Http://www.bbc.co.uk.
  • Meredith Cohn. (2010). Altemativesto Animal Testing Gaining Ground. April 21, 2018. HYPERLINK ;http://www.articles.baltimoresun.com.; http://www.articles.baltimoresun.com.
  • Reno, N. Should Animal Testing Be Banned. April 20, 2018Http://www.teenink.com.
Updated: May 19, 2021
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Animal Experiments. (2020, Jun 02). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/animal-experiments-21281-new-essay

Animal Experiments essay
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