Animal testing has played an essential role in advancing human medicine and science, but there are also strong arguments for respecting the rights and welfare of animals. What choice do we have between scientific advancement and animal rights?
There’s a hot debate among scientists these days about the need to abandon animal testing. The argument that animals have rights just like humans, and that humanity should prioritize their rights and well-being, is gaining traction around the world. However, I believe that without animal testing, human scientific advancements, especially in medicine, would not be as successful as they are today. For example, without animal testing, we would not have been able to detect substances that are harmless to adults but toxic to children. Without animal testing, approximately one million children under the age of five would lose their lives every year, and thousands of people receive a new lease on life every year thanks to organ transplants developed through animal testing. Therefore, it is my contention that we should be in favor of animal testing for the betterment of humanity.
However, the movie Planet of the Apes made me think twice about animal testing. In the movie, humans use chimpanzees as research subjects for space exploration, and after many experiments and training, they send them on dangerous missions. The chimpanzees learn to think like humans through experimentation and training, and eventually, in the future, they dominate humans. After watching the movie, many people may be against animal testing, but I still believe that it should be continued because it can bring great benefits to humanity.
If we look at examples from the last century, we can see that almost all medical breakthroughs were directly or indirectly dependent on animal research. More than 500 scientists, including the U.S. Public Health Service, the U.K. Department of Health, 250 professors, and three Nobel Prize winners, have publicly endorsed animal testing. Their reasons for doing so can be used as a basis for my support. I will analyze the reasons to keep animal testing from three perspectives: safety, effectiveness, and general research (disease research).
First, let’s take a quick look at why animals are used in research. Although animals are very different from humans in appearance, their body mechanisms are often very similar. Because of this, animals can be used as surrogate models for humans. Animal research provides clues to the prevention and treatment of diseases, which contributes to saving millions of lives. That’s why animal research has been going on for decades.
The first reason to continue animal testing is that newly developed drugs or vaccines need to be tested on animals before they can be tested on humans for safety. Because animals have similar body mechanisms to humans, we can filter out drugs that are harmful to them. This way, we can block harmful drugs in advance. However, opponents of animal testing argue that computer modeling techniques and cellular tissue studies can also be used to verify the safety of drugs. However, computers and cellular studies cannot accurately mimic the complex mechanisms of the human body, which is why laboratories currently use animal testing even after computer modeling and cellular studies.
The second reason is that animal testing can confirm the effectiveness of newly developed drugs. Even if a drug proves to be effective in animal studies, it is not uncommon for it to fail when applied to humans. This is because humans and animals don’t have exactly the same body mechanisms. For example, our favorite chocolate can be deadly to dogs, and aspirin, a common human drug, is highly toxic to cats. Nevertheless, animal testing has continued to evolve over the past 60 years, and scientists have put a lot of effort into figuring out which animals are best suited for testing certain drugs. For example, for neurological studies, cats are best suited because they most closely resemble the human nervous system, while for cardiovascular studies, puppies or pigs can be excellent experimental models. Scientists are constantly searching for the right animal model.
The third reason is that animal testing is not only used to test the safety and effectiveness of new drugs or vaccines, but also to deepen our understanding of diseases and develop new treatments. Throughout the history of human medicine, animal testing has contributed to the prevention and treatment of diseases such as diabetes, polio, Parkinson’s disease, and hypertension. In recent years, animal testing has also led to a deeper genetic understanding in cancer research and the development of new treatments that attack cancer cells more directly. For example, 25 years ago, 70% of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia died within five years; today, thanks to research in mice, that number is down to 20%. In the U.S., the average survival rate for cancer patients has improved by 10.7% thanks to new drugs developed in animal models. Based on these data alone, it’s hard to deny the positive impact animal testing has had on human health.
Opponents of animal testing are right to argue for the rights and welfare of animals. However, animal testing doesn’t just benefit humans, it can also contribute to animal health. In the case of animals, whose body mechanisms are similar to those of humans, the results obtained in animal testing are used to treat animal diseases. For example, insulin used to treat diabetes has been used effectively in dogs, cats, and other animals, and diseases such as influenza, leukemia, distemper, and rabies have been prevented and treated through animal testing.
Finally, animal testing is not only an important means of determining the safety and effectiveness of drugs, but also an important research method that improves the lives of both humans and animals. Over the past century, most medical discoveries have been made through animal testing, and it has helped to develop treatments for incurable diseases like AIDS. While a cure for AIDS has yet to be found, animal testing is opening up the possibility of new treatments. If a cure for AIDS is found, countless lives will be saved and human medical progress will enter a new era. Therefore, we believe that animal testing should continue. Animals are our saviors, and the lives of both humans and animals will be better for it.
