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should animals be used for biomedical research
should animals be used for biomedical research
three ethical concerns with tuskegee study
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In this paper, I will defend the usage of organs-on a-chip in medical research as well as the use of humans as test subjects for bio-medical research. My argument is based on the idea that human testing and organs-on-a-chip can potentially improve the field of medical research by reducing the time-frame for obtaining results in combatting against diseases, epidemics, and pandemics. Firstly, I will outline the deficiencies of animal testing and describe how the organs-on-a-chip operates. I will then explain why the use of organs-on-a-chip can yield accurate and timely results which could reduce the impact of disease outbreaks. Following this, I will outline some benefits of human testing. Finally, I will identify the flaws of organs-on-a-chip and elaborate on the negative issues that surround human testing by analyzing the Tuskegee Study. Traditionally, animal testing has been a major component of bio-medical research. It has been a very important tool for modern-day medical scientists, researchers, and epidemiologists who investigate diseases in order to find effective remedies. The discovery of treatments for various infectious, airborne, communicable, and chronic diseases can all be attributed to animal testing. However, there are several fundamental issues that undermine the perceived success of animal testing in bio-medical research. These issues include the following: the time consuming nature of animal testing, the scientific limitations of animal testing, the reliability of animal testing results, the steep economic costs, and the ethical concerns associated with animal testing. The animal testing process involves several phases. In the first phase, animals are given a single dose of a test compound. This phase is known as... ... middle of paper ... ... that have been discovered thus far may not have been found. Although animal testing and organs-on-a-chip both have their advantages and disadvantages, the advantages of the organ-on-a-chip largely outweigh its shortcomings. The opposite applies to animal testing as its flaws significantly outweigh its benefits. When the organ-of-a-chip is compared with animal testing as a tool for medical research, it reveals that the organ-on-a-chip has the potential to yield faster, more accurate results than animal testing. Even though animal testing has led researchers to effective treatments for diseases in the past; the organ-on-a-chip enables researchers to unlock the treatment for many more diseases at a lesser financial cost. Animal testing has a proven track record; but organs-on-a-chip has the potential to a more powerful tool for bio-medical researchers in the future.
At the turn of the new century, activists begun to protest the morality of animal experimentation: “… such methodology is far too cruel on beast, it cannot better mankind, but its lead to it demise…” Despite the rising concern for animal safety in laboratory research, federal legislations approved the practice. According to the federal bureaucrats, it is an essential tool to improve our current medical knowledge. Hence, most of the tested animals have a relatively shorter life span than human. Thus, it allows to test long-term disease in a smaller timeframe. Nonetheless, animal enthusiast request the banishment of animal experimentation in laboratory. Ergo, with our current technology, researchers are capable to reproduce the same result
Testing animals is used to develop medical treatments, determine the toxicity of medicinal drugs, check the safety of products intended for human use, and other biomedical, commercial, and healthcare roles. The earliest recordings of animal studies date back to Aristotle, who discovered the anatomical differences among animals by analyzing them (Introduction). Advocates of animal testing say that it has enabled the growth of numerous medical advancements, tests to see if new products are save for mankind, acquisition of new scientific knowledge, and because it is accurate (B). Opponents of animal testing say that it is cruel and inhumane to try out on animals, many animals die from the animal testing, it’s unethical, animals don’t have a say in it, the accuracy is in question because they are testing animals and not humans, and the toll of animal testing is high (B). Through the pros and cons of everything, it is bad to test animals because animals are very different from human beings and thus make poor test subjects and are unreliable, the cost and upkeep of it is expensive, and because there are alternatives to animal testi...
Over 100 Million animals are burned, crippled, poisoned and abused in testing labs every year. Animals are used to test the safety of products, advance scientific research, and develop models to study disease and to develop new medical treatments, all for the sake of mankind. Animals should not be used for scientific research because animal testing is inhumane, other testing methods now exist, and animals are very different from human beings. While animal testing has led to many life-saving cures, animal testing is cruel and inhumane because it involves inflicting pain and harm on the test subject to study its effects and remedies. Testing involves physically restraining, force-feeding, and depriving animals of food and water.
According to the California Biomedical Research Association, almost every medical advancement in the last 100 years is a direct result of animal testing and research. The use of animals has become standard procedure in a wide range of testing and experimentation, including product toxicity testing, biomedical and veterinary experiments, drug development and testing, and education. Major advancements in treating and understanding chronic conditions such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, malaria, and tuberculosis, have been achieved due to animal research. Also, the development of pacemakers, cardiac valve substitutes, and anesthetics are also direct results of the testing and observation of animals. On the other hand, many people believe that animal testing is cruel and inhumane. In many laboratories animals are subjected to force feeding, food and water deprivation, physical restraints, and infliction of pain. Because the animals cannot protect themselves, many people argue that exploiting animals to better the lives of humans is wrong and should not be permitted.
They fear that without these test subjects, humans will have no insight to what a chemical may do to them before using it. These fears though, would not be worsened by the elimination of animal testing; according to The Food and Drug Administration, about ninety-two out of a hundred drugs tested on animals, do not have the same reaction in humans. This number makes it clear that animal testing is far more destructive than it is effective. Recently, scientists have been more successful in growing cells of human body parts that can be used as a much better candidates for testing. Testing on an actual human organ rather than one that possesses some similarities clearly has a better success rate. Some of the areas these lab grown cells have majorly helped in include cancers, sepsis, kidney diseases, and AIDS. These new developments provide a logical reason to end animal testing altogether, but, many other factors also push for the end of this
and Europe, which include reduction of animal use, refine animal study techniques, and animal testing replacement. According to Dana ,Bidnall, “Animals are also used, and subsequently killed, every year in many other types of laboratory experiments, from military testing to simulated car crashes to deliberately introduced diseases such as AIDS and Alzheimer 's”(49). Bidnal also states that, “These experiments take place in labs at universities, pharmaceutical companies, and testing agencies, and on farms and military bases around the world”(49). The author suggest,”Researchers who conduct experiments on animals argue that it would be unethical to test substances with potentially adverse side effects on humans; animals are good surrogates because their responses are similar to humans”(49).Bidnal contends with ,”However, some animals are chosen for other reasons”(49). According to Bindal, “Animal testing is not the only option in toxicity testing”(50). Bidnal states, “Alternatives are widely available and include human clinical and epidemiological studies; experiments with cadavers, volunteers,and patients; computer simulation and mathematical models; and in vitro (test tube) tissue culture techniques, to name just a
They say “the new technologies, such as software models that mimic the human body and stem cells extracted from embryos or grow from skin cells will reduce or eliminate that need for animal testing”(Animal Testing pg1 para 5). Health director Dr. Elias Zerhouni admits that experimenting on animals to help humans has been a failing disappointment and says “we have moved away from studying human disease in humans. The problem is that animal testing has not worked, and it is time we stopped dancing around the problem… We need to refocus and adapt new methodologies for use in humans to understand disease biology in humans” (PETA “Alternative To Animals Testing” pg1 para
Current animal testing has been a contentious subject ever since it started off 150 years back. Although a lot of people discover animal testing inhumane and egoistic, it is an important factor to boost our understanding of medication and to improve our understanding of science. Animal testing, to some, is the way to ameliorate our level of living and preserve many lives, and therefore has many benefits. On the other hand, the negatives may not be passed, and scientists are constantly trying to decrease the damage with some methods they create in the process. Even so, to the dismay of numerous animal lovers in addition to those who are endeavoring for animal rights, animal testing will not be stopped every time soon because, for now, it is the most trustworthy form of testing that includes the safety of daily products we use more carefully than any other procedure.
The article provides specific examples of illnesses and diseases which have been cured by animal testing that both humans and animals have benefitted. This supports my topic of animal experiments being used for medical advancements. Pointing out that law often requires that products be tested before being sold to the public, George and Wagner additionally help prove my claim that product testing is a purpose of animal experimentation.
The people that support animal testing dispute that without testing many of the medications and procedures that we have today wouldn’t exist and research and growth in the medical field would be very restricted. For scientists and researchers to be able to work on animals, they have made some great discoveries. Surgery on animals has helped in development of organ transplants and open-heart surgery te...
Animal testing has been used for developing and researching cures for medical conditions. For example, the polio vaccine, chemotherapy for cancer, insulin treatment for diabetes, organ transplants and blood transfusions are just some of the important advances that have come from research on animals (“Animal Testing”). Consuming animals for research benefits in developing various treatments and also benefits in discovery better methods for cures. According to the article “Animal Testing”, it says that the underlying rationale for the use of animal testing is that living organisms provide interactive, dynamic systems that scientists can observe and manipulate in order to understand normal and pathological functioning as well as the effectiveness of medical interventions. It relies on the physiological and anatomical similarities between humans and other animals (MacClellan, Joel). Meaning that animals have the same body components and features as humans and is the best thing to research on to better understand the human development. Even though several argue that animal testing is harming the animals, one has to think back to all the benefits that has come from it. There may be a little remorse for endangering animal lives, but realizing how far medicine has come makes it worth the while.
Throughout centuries medical research has been conducted on animals. “Animals were used in early studies to discover how blood circulates through the body, the effect of anesthesia, and the relationship between bacteria and disease” (AMA 59). Experiments such as these seem to be outdated and actually are by today’s means, scientists now study commonly for three general purposes: (1) biomedical and behavioral research, (2) education, (3) drug and product testing (AMA 60). These three types of experiments allow scientists to gain vast amounts of knowledge about human b...
Animal testing is an act of barbarism, the fact that animals are being bred to be a victim of crude experiments and then euthanized is cruel. An Eye Irritancy Test is a test in which albino rabbits have a substance entered into their eyes that are held open with clips for seven to eighteen days. The rabbits are confined in stocks with only their heads protruding while experimenters record the damage of the eye tissue which can vary to being swollen eyelids, inflamed irises, ulceration, bleeding, massive deterioration, and blindness. Many rabbits break their necks as they struggle to escape from the pain. Another savage test is an Acute Toxicity Test, also known as lethal doses, or poisoning tests. This test determines the amount of a substance that will kill a percentage of a group of test animals. Substances are forced into the animal’s body by tubes to the stomach, cuts to the throat, introduced to the eyes, mixed into food or inhaled through a gas mask. Reactions to this test can include convulsions, heavy breathing, diarrhea, constipation, emaciation, contortion, skin eruptions, and bleeding. The testing period continues until at least half of the animals die, approximately two to four weeks. Keep in mind, anesthesia is absent during these procedures.
Hundreds of millions of animals die every year from animal testing in the United States. Innocent animals are used everyday in laboratories for biology advancements, medical training, curiosity-driven experimentation, and chemical, drug, food, and cosmetic testing. They are used to provide information to make better products that are safe for human use. Although animal experimentation has some benefits, the negatives outweigh the positives. Animal testing is killing off innocent beings for the possible human benefit, and with modern technology, there are alternative ways to test products that leave animals unharmed.
Safety tests are conducted on a wide range of chemicals and products, including drugs, vaccines, cosmetics, household cleaners, pesticides, foodstuffs, and packing materials. Higher order animals are used in research, teaching and testing because of the benefits they bring to both animals and people. Those benefits are the reasons why a research, teaching or testing procedure is done in the first place. Research using animals has various broad aims which include: