Animal Testing is Necessary

Did you know that life-saving medicines such as the COVID-19 vaccines, and HIV treatments, and even implants and medical devices, have been created and made effective because of animal testing? It’s true. Without using animals as subjects in experiments, none of these necessary medicines, some of which have saved millions of lives worldwide, would have been created. Animal testing and research is a necessary part of science that has drastically improved medicine and saved countless lives. 

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To start, some necessary experiments are simply illegal, impossible, or unethical to perform on humans. For example, when studying the gut microbiome, the subject must be fed a strictly controlled diet and be kept in an entirely sterile environment free of any germs. In some cases, the subjects in this type of experiment must be engineered with a new gut that is free of any microbes. While keeping people on a strict diet isn't impossible, it is not exactly easy; on the other hand, keeping people in a completely sterile environment, or engineering them a new, germ-free, gut, is virtually impossible, and definitely unethical. If not for animal testing, scientists would not be able to perform gut-microbiome or similar experiments. Additionally, in some cases, researchers give test subjects serious diseases, including cancer, autoimmune disorders, such as Type 1 Diabetes, and neurodegenerative conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease; giving any one of these diseases, or one similar to them, is not only unethical, but also illegal, and in some cases, impossible. Without performing these experiments on animal models, scientists would not understand these diseases as in-depth as they do, which could lead to the creation of ineffective medicine, or no medicine at all. Humans would be in a much worse state without the knowledge derived from these experiments.

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Second, in order for scientists to fully understand how some diseases function and progress, research must first be conducted on animal subjects. “Viruses can mutate as they infect new hosts or species. By looking for variants in animals, [scientists] can better understand the risk of transmission between humans and animals” (USDA). Additionally, scientists study animals “...because people are vulnerable to many of the same or similar diseases as animals.” This is because of our similarities. For example, almost all of the genes in mice are similar to genes found in humans and non-human primates, such as chimpanzees and baboons, are humans’ closest living relatives, meaning we share many physiological traits with them. Some of these diseases include, but are not limited to, COVID-19, rabies, and bioterrorism diseases. By studying diseases in animals that humans are susceptible to, scientists can accurately create effective medicine, and even find ways to eradicate certain diseases. 

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Third, according to expert witness Jessica C, Taylor, PhD, biomedical scientist, “animals utilized in basic science laboratories are purpose-bred, meaning they are raised with the intention of being put to use in research towards the betterment of human and veterinary healthcare. If these animals were to leave their highly regulated laboratory spaces, they would be unable to survive in the wild because they lack needed skills.” Animal subjects in experiments are not someone’s pet, or even an animal from a zoo, they are animals that were born and raised for the purpose of being part of an experiment. The alternatives to using these purpose bred animals is using wild animals, which could carry diseases and infect people, cause harm to others because of their lack of domestication, and provide unreliable results; pre-domesticated animals, such as zoo animals or pets; humans, which many would agree is unethical, and most would not even consider being a part of; or simply not testing new medicines at all, which, when given to a human patient, could not help their condition at all, worsen their health, or in extreme cases, cause them death. 

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But what about the treatment of animals that are a part of experiments? While animals are purposely exposed to potentially harmful diseases, they are taken care of under strict guidelines. “The guidelines for housing laboratory animals are incredibly strict and focus on the needs of individual species. For example, Yucatan mini-pigs are housed according to their social needs, given toys for enrichment, fed and watered appropriately, and receive daily health checks and living facility cleanings,” says Dr. Taylor. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) was first passed 1966, but has been updated several times in order to coincide with other current laws and regulations; its purpose is to regulate the treatment of animals in research, testing, teaching, exhibition, transport, and by dealers. Three main Titles (sections) – or parts of Titles – of this law that still apply today are Title 7, Chapter 54, which addresses the transportation, sale, and handling of certain animals, Title 9 as a whole – that conveys requirements surrounding the whole governance of animal welfare, and, specifically, Title 9, Chapter 1, Subchapter A, Part 4 – the part of Title 9 that describes the “[r]ules of practice governing proceedings under the Animal Welfare Act." It is true that intentionally exposing living creatures to diseases is not the most humane method to creating medicine and advancing in science, however, it is the best and most effective way to advance medicine at this point in time, and the animal models’ care are regulated under strict guidelines to ensure their safety and prosperity. 

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In conclusion, animal testing and research is a necessary part of science that has drastically improved medicine and saved countless lives. Without animal research, life-saving vaccines such as the COVID-19 vaccines would not exist, or, if they did exist, would not have been made in such a timely manner as to assist in minimizing current crises, such as the 2020

global pandemic. Animal testing is irreplaceable because some experiments necessary to make life-saving medicines are illegal, impossible, or unethical to perform on humans, some diseases must be studied in animals in order to be fully understood, and the animals used in experiments were purpose- bred; they would not survive in the wild. While there are some downsides to animal testing, such as diseases being intentionally given to animal subjects, the positive outcomes outweigh the negative ones. To quote biomedical scientist Jeffrey Osborn, PhD, “Animal research provides the best health care for pets and people. It saves lives.”​​​​​​​

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