Table of Contents
Introduction
This essay will focus on the issue of animal testing for drugs. There has been increasing concerns by the drug companies in using animals for testing their products. In this paper, I will argue that animal testing should be banned and abolished completely as it poses a severe risk to not only the animals but also to human beings.
The Success of Animal Testing
There has been a lot of emphasis on the fact that animals should be tested with the drugs before it is being used on the human body. This gives the researchers the data that they need. They would be getting some type of information which would be needed to analyse the impact of the medicine. The real issue, however, is that majority of the tests which have been conducted on the animals rarely succeed in humans.
The drugs which were given the clearance after being tested on the animals failed miserably when they were used on humans.
To add salt to the injury the drugs which were originally scheduled to be released for human use at an earlier date had to be delayed for animal testing. This resulted in the drug companies working tirelessly to test the drugs on animals and looking for amicable ways to ensure that the results are matching for animal testing. This delay would have caused more suffering to the patients alive as the cure in the medicine could have been an ideal way to treat certain illnesses.
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Reliability of the data from animal testing
The data which is gained from animal testing has proven to be unreliable. There are hundreds of cases when the data collected from animal testing resulted in serious health problems. This was not usable for human beings. According to (Akhtar,2017) In March 2006, six human volunteers were injected with TGN 1412, an experimental therapy created by TeGenero. As described by Slate: Within minutes, the human test subjects were writhing on the floor in agony. The compound was designed to dampen the immune response, but it had supercharged theirs, unleashing a cascade of chemicals that sent all six to the hospital. Several of the men suffered permanent organ damage, and one man’s head swelled up so horribly that British tabloids refer to the case as the ‘elephant man trial’. There have been cases when the lives of the humans are in question and have been some serious issues which are part of the human lives.
Furthermore, there are some drugs which have a negative reaction on the drugs on animals which might not be the case for the humans. The example of the breast cancer medicines which were resulting in tumours in rats but were said to be working perfectly fine for the humans. This caused a serious confusion and misleading information for the researchers. The people who would have been saved from the early intervention of this drug is yet another important reason why animal testing should be stopped.
Thus in one hand, there is a clear approach to improve the human lives but these sort of testing is doing more to endanger it. This issue further reiterates the fact that the information gained from animal testing is misleading and could lead to dire circumstances. Thus this is yet another reason why animal testing should be prohibited and punishable by law.
Evolving alternatives to animal testing
The technological revolution has been seen in nearly all the different sectors today. Technology has made it possible for getting some of the best replacements of animals. The disadvantages of animals as a means of testing medicines have revealed that it is time-consuming.
Furthermore, the data gathered from animal testing might not be enough to warrant a drug being released in the market. HUMAN skin, eyes, the lining of the throat — snippets of these and other tissues are now routinely grown in test tubes from donated human cells. The goal is not to patch up ailing people but to use the human tissues in place of mice, dogs or other lab animals for testing new drugs, cosmetics, and other products. This is one of the most advanced strategies which can actually replace the concept of animal testing. The artificial growth of the parts of the human body would ensure that the testing would be efficient and more effective than ever before. The costs associated with the animal testing would be needed is extremely high considering the unreliable results.
Researchers have developed a wide range of sophisticated computer models that simulate human biology and the progression of developing diseases. Studies show that these models can accurately predict the ways that new drugs will react in the human body and replace the use of animals in exploratory research and many standard drug tests.”
Quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) are computer-based techniques that can replace animal tests by making sophisticated estimates of a substance’s likelihood of being hazardous, based on its similarity to existing substances and our knowledge of human biology. Companies and governments are increasingly using QSAR tools to avoid animal testing of chemicals, and PETA actively promotes and funds their use internationally.
The technology of vitro methods plays a vital role in the development of the testing which is essential to ensure that a computer controlled human-patient simulator is used to ensure that appropriate testing is undertaken. In short, there are some of the best reliable methods which are available for testing purposes. These new technological advancements would be better in terms of predicting the right type of results and would help the researchers considerably in terms of developing the drug which can be used effectively on a human patient.
A goal of animal testing for improving human health
Sometimes, human testing is not an option. There might be some of the best volunteers available for the testing but the condition of the drug cannot be forced to put one person at risk of disease. When testing medicines for potential toxicity, the lives of human volunteers should not be put in danger unnecessarily. It would be unethical to perform invasive experimental procedures on human beings before the methods have been tested on animals, and some experiments involve genetic manipulation that would be unacceptable to impose on human subjects before animal testing.
The World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki states that human trials should be preceded by tests on animals. Furthermore, the vaccines we are seeing today most of them have been tested on animals and have been made to use for the market today. Thus there are some benefits of animal testing which are apparent. The lives of the animals have to be sacrificed to ensure a better healthcare for human beings. It is for this reason that animal testing is considered vital for improving human health and it is also why the scientific community and many members of the public support its use. In fact, there are also individuals who are against animal testing for cosmetics but still support animal testing for medicine and the development of new drugs for the disease. “it aids researchers in finding drugs and treatments to improve health and medicine. Many medical treatments have been made possible by animal testing, including cancer and HIV drugs, insulin, antibiotics, vaccines and many more
Conclusion
The discussion above has been thorough and points towards one particular aspect. I have argued that animal testing should be abolished. I have discussed in the paper that technology has enabled us to develop some of the best alternatives which were not available earlier. The advancement in Human-Patient Simulator and the artificial growth of tissues can be an excellent replacement for animals.
There is a strong contribution to the animals in the development of some of the most important drugs in the world. The vaccines, medicines for HIV, cancer all have been developed based on the animals. The real question is that medical technology was not as advanced as it is today. The use of technology should be maximized and ensured that the animals are not sacrificed for the sake of human beings. The fact that a living thing being forced to act as a tester for the humans is not bearable though which should be entertained. In my opinion, the animals are not the ones who should sacrifice their lives or suffer from unbearable pain due to the drugs as the cure of the disease would only be injected after being infected by the disease. Thus in the future, I would recommend that there should be efforts from all sides to ensure that animal testing should be banned and abolished at all costs.
References
- AKHTAR, A. (2015). The Flaws and Human Harms of Animal Experimentation. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 24(4), 407–419. http://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180115000079
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4594046/#sec1title - Akhtar, A. (2017). The Top 3 Ways Animal Experiments Hurt Humans: Huff post. Retrieved from
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/aysha-akhtar/animal-experiments_b_4209541.html - By BARNABY J. FEDERSEPT. (12, 2007 ) Saving the Animals: New Ways to Test Products. The new york times. Para 1. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/12/technology/techspecial/12animal.html
- “Should Animals Be Used For Scientific Or Commercial Testing?” (2017, February 11). Retrieved from https://animal-testing.procon.org/
- Murnaghan, I.”(2008, May 10) “Using Animals for Testing: Pros Versus Cons.” Retrieved from http://www.aboutanimaltesting.co.uk/using-animals-testing-pros-versus-cons.html
- Zerhouni, E. (2013), Alternatives to Animal Testing: Peta. Retrieved from https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/alternatives-animal-testing/
