Animal rights concerning medical research

Name

Professor

Course

Date

Rights of Animal Research

Introduction

The issue over medical research on animals has centered on charges of abuse

in the laboratory , made by animal rights activists who seek to abolish all medical research on animals . Concerned members of the public , most of whom support animal medical research , have asked scientists for assurance that animals are being treated humanely . There is an elaborate regulatory system to safeguard animal welfare , including federal regulations . Public Health Service guidelines , and state and local laws The benefits

of medical research with animals are substantial , with every expectation that these benefits will continue

Animal liberationists do not separate out the human animal . A rat is a pig is a dog is a

boy . - Ingrid Newkirk . Director , People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

The shock value of this quote has made it a favorite of those defending the use of animals in medical research . It succinctly states the core belief of many animal rights activists who oppose the use of animals in medical research . Although some activists work for improved laboratory conditions for medical research animals , recent surveys suggest that most activists would like to eliminate animal research entirely (Pious 2001 . These activists believe animals have rights equal to humans and therefore should not be used as subjects in medical research

Animal experiments are one of the most emotive subjects in medical research . Much has been written about the pros and cons of sacrificing animals to benefit human health . Some of the points are emphasized here

The first point to emphasize is that the whole edifice of pharmaceutical research depends on animals . Regulators such as the US Food and Drug Administration require every drug candidate to undergo an exhaustive series of tests on animals , normally in at least two species , before its safety and efficacy can be assessed in clinical trials on people . Drugs aimed at mass markets such as arthritis , Alzheimer 's or heart disease are normally tested on four or five species - mice , rats , hamsters , dogs and monkeys would be typical

The point of experimenting on animals is to take advantage of their similarity to humans . If their reactions to a particular drug are different from ours , then the results of animal tests can be dangerously misleading

Genetic engineering of this sort should enable the pharmaceutical industry to reduce further its demand for laboratory animals . But for the foreseeable future , traditional testing in living vertebrate systems will still be needed to check that new drugs do not have unexpected side-effects before they are put into people

Jon Schottland , director of the Boston-based Living Earth Learning Project , a nonprofit educational program , challenged students not to take a "moral shortcut " when considering the issues posed by the use of 20 million to 50 million animals annually in medical research and cosmetic testing

Webster recounted a long list of advances throughout medical history that he said could not have been achieved without the use of animals . He cited the development of vaccines...