Arguments Against Animal Testing

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Recommended: The debate over animal testing

When I first saw the topic for this discussion, I thought to myself “that’s a no-brainer” because my belief comes from a biblical viewpoint of God instructing man to “rule over the animals”. But, while researching this topic extensively over the last week, I will have to admit I could see both sides to this debate. At first, when I was reading how many animals have been killed in order for us to see if drugs are safe I started to sway to the side of NOT testing animals. This, in fact, did get out of hand when it first began in the early 50’s. But, with a little more research I discovered that things have changed drastically since they first started testing. Some of the testing, such as the LD50 testing when it was first being utilized did, in fact, kill a lot of animals needlessly. In the article (found on the NCBI website) titled “Toxicity Tests in Animals: Historical Perspectives and New Opportunities” in the Environews Focus Article, Volume 101, Number 3, August 1993 it states: …show more content…

New approaches to the classic LD50 are currently in practice that incorporates information from preliminary in vitro screening tests. The modified LD50, known as the range limit study, uses 6-10 animals instead of 80-100, as was the case before the mid- 80s. The classic LD50 test is now generally used only to check the potency of highly toxic chemicals, such as when screening for potential chemotherapeutic agents or determining the effective strengths of

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