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Camilla Satte
13 November 2015
Course: ESLG 0610
Assignment: Final Draft for Project #2
Professor Daryl Morazzini

Animal Testing in Medicine


Every year painful experiments claim the lives of millions of humans four-legged
friends. During the experiments animals are treated with the most abusive ways. Their organs
and tissues are surgically removed, they are poisoned, starved, dehydrated, controlled by
electric charge, and all of this occurs while they are conscious (Bank and Buuren 419). For a
long time, many famous intellectuals, including Goethe, Tolstoy, Hugo and Mark Twain
(Mark Twain for Animal Welfare), fought against such practices. However, to date, the
attitude towards experiments has not changed. There are two points of view on this problem.
As experiments on animals cause severe pain, suffering, and even death, some argue that it is
ethical right to ban testing on animals once and for all. The counter argument advocates for
allowing conduction of experiments on animals in compliance with the new bioethical
regulations on treatment of animals, as the need for future human welfare and scientific
progress.
Throughout the history of science, animals have been actively used in research that
made enormous contribution to the nowadays progression. Scientists conducted experiments
on animals to find out how does human body work in a healthy state and during illness or
disease, to develop new drugs and vaccines, to test new drugs and medical devices that
determines the extent risks that threatens man or environment, to deepen our knowledge
about biology, chemistry, physics, as well as other sciences. One of the earliest mentions of
experiments on animals were found in the written works from ancient Greek scientists, such

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as Aristotle and Erasistratus (Bank and Buuren 275). The Roman physician of the second
century AD practiced autopsies of pigs and goats. In 1880, Louis Pasteur introduced and
proved the microbial spreading of some diseases, artificially causing anthrax in a sheep (Bank
and Buuren 225). Insulin was first found from dogs in 1922, and this revolutionized the
treatment of diabetes (Hajar, Animal Testing and Medicine). In the 1970s, antibiotics and
vaccines against leprosy were developed through experiments on armadillos (Botting 31).
These experiments made an enormous advancement in modern medicine. Unfortunately,
there will always be different opinions. The opposing minds pursued researches on animals
and fought for their deliverance.
One of the strongest arguments of the defenders of animal rights is that animals are
radically different from humans and they should not serve as experimental subjects (Sebeck
and Rosenthal 252). Indeed, physiological similarities and differences between human and
each species of laboratory animal are carefully discovered (Singer 136). For example,
rodents, like mice and rats, are widely used for the study of hereditary diseases, since 99% of
their genes are similar to humans. It is very important that these animals have a high rate of
reproduction, in order to avoid side effects of testing drugs that may affect heredity, which
can create severe health problems which appear only on the progeny (Animals in Science.
Mice and Rats in Research). Scientists cannot wait until the second or third generation of
human test subjects, but rodents give us that opportunity. Tests on animals are an essential
part of the medical progress. At the stage of early clinical trials more than 90% of testing
products are rejected. Some experiments might be inevitably deadly; therefore, the creation of
new antibiotics require testing (Animals in Science. Mice and Rats in Research). The
solution of the issue is not about the complete abolition of animal experiments, but about the
reduction of deaths and as much minimization harm and pain as possible to laboratory
animals during experiments.

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There is other side of the coin. Not all medical researches have contributed to further
prosperity, some of them Annually, more than one hundred million experimental animals are
killed in the world; 65% of deaths occur in the testing of drugs and new medical therapies
(Hajar). These animals are either killed where their tissues and organs are studied, or,
experiments are conducted on live or anesthetized animals, after which animals die of
suffering from damages (Laraque, Earthlings Full Documentary). This is an even worse
fate than being killed immediately. Animals as humans feel pain and some of them are more
sensitive to it. Besides that, to conduct these medical researches on animals, organizations
and governments spending enormous amount of money, while the same money could be
spent on the development of new technologies (Questions and Answers About Biomedical
Research.).
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) made an
investigation on companies that conducting drug testing on animals and founded that most of
the results do not provide reliable data. But it can help pharmaceutical companies get
permission from the government authorities to sell their products (Medicines and vaccines).
Sometimes, such a system leads to the appearance of dangerous drugs with unpredictable
results on pharmacy shelves, because reaction of human organism can be completely
different. One of the fist sensational cases occurred between 1956 and 1962 years, the
notorious affair with thalidomide the drug, through which were born more than ten
thousand children without arms, legs, ears, or with eye defects, most tragically, 48% of whom
died in infancy. Thalidomide was conceived as a medicine for seizures, but animal
experiments have shown that this drug does not have such tragic effects. Nonetheless, an
overdose of this drug did not kill mice and rats, which gave reason to believe that it was
harmless. Then, samples were tested in humans. It turned out that thalidomide was a perfect
sleeping pill and most importantly, it was safe, because, unlike other similar drugs, its

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overdose did not lead to death. Five years after thalidomide was sold in forty-six countries all
around the world, it was revealed that between twenty and thirty-six pregnancy weeks one
tablet of that drug can cause fetal defects (Scialli).
Charles Darwin wrote that even the thought about painful experiments, which being
proceeded in laboratories, makes me sick with horror and does not allow me to sleep at
nights (Darwin 139). He was introduced to brutal procedures on animals, such as Claude
Bernards, who distinguished himself by creative ways of torturing animals and known as
a master-demon (Schiller 374). Bernard claimed that only with applying vivisection, or
dissecting a live [animal] (Gross 105), people can make improvements in medicine, in his
own defense he affirmed that vivisections have produced almost all the physiology of the
medical system (Schiller 375). Darwin as antagonist of animal tests, strongly believed that
animals have moral rights and their lives are priceless as humans, he was supported by wellthought-of figures, such as active defender of not only human rights but animals as well,
Victor Hugo. Hugo asserted that Vivisection is a crime (Kete 15), he compared vivisection
to cannibalism.
One of the examples of the most ferocious experiments, that Claude Bernard practiced
and which did not give any new discoveries, is the effects of high temperatures on animals.
Bernard observed how dogs, pigeons, and rabbits baked in stove, expired at the temperature
of 90o or 100o Cent. in 6 minutes (Bernard 309), and this followed by how its body was
baked and boiled. At first the creature is a little agitated. Soon the respiration and circulation
are quickened. The animal opens its mouth and breathes hard. Soon it dies generally in
uttering a cry (Bernard 310). The world of science was shocked by his cruelty to these little
beings. Fortunately, for such practices governments and organizations established special
laws that controls all research centers and carefully investigates each purpose of experiment

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before letting scientists to conduct them on live animals (Guide for the Care and Use of
Laboratory Animals).
The popular Draize test, first used in 1944, is cheap, accessible and simple;
furthermore, rabbits eyes are big enough to evaluate results (Balls 33). On the eyes of
rabbits, which are conscious during the experiment, researchers apply pesticides, medical
drugs, tear gases or detergents. Results of the test demonstrate the degree of danger of toxic
chemicals by observing intensity of damages on rabbits eyes or skin. which sorely erodes. At
the end of experiment, all the survivors are killed for further research, usually to perform a
postmortem examination on their organs (Questions and Answers About Biomedical
Research). Besides that, there is a test for skin damage, where rabbits are mostly used. A
testing drug is applied to the shaved and wounded places of the rabbit, this leads to terrible
inflammation and eczema; here, animals are immobilized, so they will not scratch and lick
their wounds.
Another example of excruciating and unreliable animal experiment is Lethal Dose 50
Test (Orlans 63). In this test, a group of animals are forced to digest, breath, or in any other
way to consume doses of the testing substances in increasing amount. Animals experience
severe pain, convulsions, bleeding from eyes and mouth. This test is untrustworthy. The
LD50 doses are not lethal for all species, some species can die from smallest doses of that
substance, while others can survive large quantities of that chemicals in their body (Orlans
64). The suffering of animals is ignored
One of many promising alternatives in experimental medicine is naturopathic
medicine, which eliminates the need to test an infinite numbers of drugs that destroys
humans health (Eggertson 29). This gives own approach to human health improvement,
which is aimed to prevent diseases and to normalize metabolic processes. This type of
alternative includes homeopathic or naturopathic medicines, which are based on training and

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strengthening immune system; these are based on various types of medicines, including
traditional, modern, therapeutic and nutritional, and the main purpose is to minimize the use
of drugs. For example, according to the Scientific-Practical Medical Center of Dietetic
Society, that took part in research of new nutritional medicines, discovered that the use of
vegetarian diets can normalize blood serum of the lipid composition. Excess or deficiency of
serum can can cause coronary artery diseases, heart attack or heart failure (Eggertson 30).
This types of medical treatments do not need animal testing before their use. They work well
to cure severe diseases only in initial stages, but farther, when diseases complications occur,
a person needs to take medicaments that are probably were tested on animals.
There are alternatives being developed that can replace animal testing, like in
pharmacology, surgery, for testing skin-use medicaments, and other products that save lives
of millions animals. For example, the unicellular organisms, embryo eggs, bacteria, cell
culture, physico-chemical models and computer models can be used instead of animals.
These methods are more effective and allow the identification of the toxicity on a deeper
level the cell level. Scientists have developed from the human cells the brain model, called
microbrain, through which can be studied the brain tumors (Salisbury, Vanderbilt).
Another example, for conducting experiments on skin and bone reaction, scientists are at the
stage of development of an artificial skin and bone marrow that is identically same as
humans (Eggertson 30). All methods listed above are safer, more reliable than made on
animals and, most importantly, they are humane.
Nowadays, one of the complex ethical issues in relationship between man and animals
is the problem of the admissibility of experiments on animals. There are two different
approaches in consideration of the need to use animals in medicine. First, experiments on
animals is an essential source of knowledge in medicine and without it humanity will not be
able to fight diseases, like in the past, people had been obliged to test everything on animals

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as they were referred to the class of objects. A second approach, which is lead by animal
rights defenders and proved by many studies that animal testing does not give reliable
information on the effectiveness of certain medications. Time by time, with the development
of views, information access and technology, evolution leads us to the humanity. Thus,
experiments on animals was a necessary evil. It is a necessary evil that could exist until
scientists will find alternatives. At the moment, some certain ethical requirements can be
followed to control experiments on animals, that animals can be used for any experiments
unless their scientific necessity is proven and during the experiment to animal will be given
painkillers or anesthetics. After some time due to the development of scientific advances,
biotechnology and bioethics, these will be solutions to the controversy. The life of the animal
is as important for itself as it is for humans. The animal does not want to be tortured or killed
just like all living creatures. The question is about choosing between scientific progression
and senseless cruelty.

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Works Cited
Animals in Science. Mice and Rats in Research. National Anti-Vivisection Society. 2014.
Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
Balls, Michael. Time to Reform Toxic Tests. New Scientist. May 2 1992. 134 (1819): 3133.
Bank, James., Buuren, Martin. The Age of Bourgeois Culture. Assen: Royal Van Gorcum,
Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. Print.
Botting, Jack. Animals and medicine the contribution of animal experiments to the control of
disease. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2015.
Cawley, Kevin. Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid. William Whitakers Words Online.
University of Notre Dame. 2007. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.
Darwin, Francis. The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. New York: D. Appleton and
Company, 1887. Print.
Eggertson, Laura. Naturopathic doctors gaining new powers. Canadian Medical
Association Journal. December 2010. Vol. 182 (1). 29-30. Print.
Gross, Charles G. Claude Bernard and the Constancy of the Internal Environment. History of
Neuroscience: 380-84. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009. Print.
Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Eighth Edition). The National
Research Center. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2011. Print.
Hajar, Rachel. Animal Testing and Medicine. Medknow Publications. Heart Views. 12 Jan.
2011. Web. 2 Nov. 2015.
Hamilton, Susan. Animal Welfare & Anti-Vivisection. Oxford: Taylor & Francis, 2004. Print.
Kete, Kathleen. The Beast in the Boudoir. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1982.
Laraque, Georges. Earthlings Full Documentary. Online Video clip. YouTube. YouTube,
11 Jan. 2013. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.

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Leffingway, Albert. The Vivisection Question. The Medical News. Cambridge, 29 Feb. 1896.
Mark Twain for Animal Welfare. Stanford University Humanities Center. Humanities at
Stanford. 2 Oct. 2009. Web. 29 Oct. 2015.
Orlans, Barbara. In the Name of Science: Issues in Responsible Animal Experimentation.
New York: Oxford UP, 1993. Print.
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Advice and Welfare. Lab Animals.
RSPCA. 2015. Web. 5 Nov. 2015.
Salisbury, David. Vanderbilt-led Team to Develop Microbrain to Improve Drug Testing.
Vanderbilt Research. Jul. 2012. Print.
Schiller, Joseph. Claude Bernard and Vivisection. U.S. National Library of Medicine:
MEDLINE/PubMed, 1967. Print.
Scialli, Anthony. Thalidomide: The Tragedy of Birth Defects and the Effective Treatment of
Disease. Oxford Journals. Toxicological Sciences. 2 Apr. 2011. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.
Sebeck, Thomas A., Rosenthal, Robert. The Clever Hans Phenomenon: Communication with
Horse, Whales, Apes, and People. New York Academy of Science, 1981.
Singer, Peter. Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for our Treatment of Animals. London:
Jonathan Cape, 1990. Print.
Questions and Answers About Biomedical Research. The Humane Society of United States.
16 Sep. 2013. Web. 1 Nov. 2015.

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