Animal Laboratory Testing

The Cancer Research and Prevention Foundation has provided more than 88 million dollars in the past twenty years in support of cancer prevention research, education, and community outreach programs nationwide (Mayer and Schnipper 935).

Finally, since these diseases are a reality of life, learning about them and finding cures for them must be an ongoing process. It is because of animal research that the primary treatment programs of radiation, chemotherapy, and anti-cancer drugs as well as beta-blockers are available to bring hope and healing to those afflicted by cancer and heart disease. Thus this particular argument against animal experimentation proves futile.

Amidst all the issues related to this topic, one fact remains: research conducted with animals saves human lives. The word cancer strikes fear into most people. At one time, it was deadly in all cases, but this is no longer true. Two advances have greatly increased the chance of a cancer victim’s survival. The first of these is radiotherapy which kills the tumor. Then there is chemotherapy which quickly destroys cancer cells. These helpful techniques were both tested and developed with the help of animal experiments (Haugen 18).

One form of cancer in particular, leukemia has been significantly diminished. According to SIMR (Seriously Ill for Medical Research), “Today 6 out of every 10 children with leukemia can be cured” (Haugen 18). Many parents who were once without hope now have it due to advances made through animal experimentation. In addition, the six major childhood diseases, polio, tuberculosis, diphtheria, measles, and tetanus, have all been conquered through vaccines that were tested on animals.

A century ago, these diseases were the main causes of childhood death. Today they no longer need to be feared thanks to the development of immunizations. The smallpox vaccine was developed from calves and then tested on other animals while the polio vaccine was developed using animals and then tested on monkeys in the 1950’s (Haugen 17).

According to UNICEF, the lives of over 20 million children have been saved in the last two decades because of these vaccines (1). Saving human lives is unmistakably the strongest argument for animal experimentation in medical research.

Animal experimentation has brought about many benefits for mankind as well as for animals. Medical breakthroughs such as anti-cancer drugs and kidney treatments have been discovered and put into use for treatment of diseases. Vaccines have prevented the outbreak of many other diseases. Also, the pets of millions of people, as well as farm animals around the world, have benefited as well.

Most importantly, however, animal research has brought hope and continuation to human life. Thus animal experimentation has proven itself to be productive and critically needed in improving the health of this world.