Animals have a fully functioning body that can tell scientist more about a disease or illness and how to treat it. That is why for years scientist use them for research; Despite the ongoing debate on if using animals for testing is right or not; on the positive side it has benefited science. Worldwide us as humans are more free from sickness that use to kill us quickly, that is all because of medicine and vaccines discovered from animal testing. An example would be the polio vaccine. Polio was a disease that affected the spine and brain which resulted in people who got it not being able to breath. To find a vaccine monkeys and mice were tested on; now polio is almost unheard of for most people.( research)
Sadly, the way animals in testing labs are treated makes them victims. They are put in isolation through a small boxes and given no variables. There days are spent having their bodies used in ways that scare them or cause them stress. Therefore these creatures can gain weight and their body system isn't as strong as it should be. (Grimm)
Animals can suffer from mental illness which is shown when, "Varying forms of depression have been repeatedly reported in animals, and post-traumatic stress disorder have been found in chimpanzees and elephants."(pg2, Ferdowsian and Beck)
This evidence shows that though it is true animals are sometimes required for testing in research; there experience shouldn't have to be so cruel.
A book published in 1959 by William Russell and Rex Burch titled, The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique introduced 3 rules of animal testing: reduction, refinement, and replacement. Reduction is working to reduce the number of lab animals used in favor of alternatives. Refinement means having animals experience less pain by improving living environment and how the tests are runed. Replacement is similar to reduction by its goal is to use technology instead of animals.
Russell and Burch's book brought consideration from the public on this topic but not enough because numbers show that animal testing is on the rise, "at least 100 million animals are used each year worldwide."(pg1, Fredowsion and Beck)
A recent year from, "The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that 820,812 animals were used in 2016."(Radcliffe)
Looking at these numbers and evidence of how lab animals are treated it is true scientist have not stuck to this idea of the three Rs. Furthermore an article I found quotes, "The number of animal testing is on the rise, but so is the quality of animal testing."( Balakrishnan)
There are good alternatives to using animals that could benefit research. Scientist are aware of some people's opinion that animal testing is wrong. For this reason they have been looking at workable alternatives. Strategies include people volunteering for research on types of flu and typhoid virus strains. Human cells and tissues ashtrays have already been used for therapeutic research and vaccine test runs. Summarizing what was said by Hill in Healthline, the tissues and cells are better for research than animal cells because they are more accurate on how a drug would react in the human body (Balakrishnan)
