Animal Testing: For or Against?

Companies that advertise no animal testing are saying they prefer to test on their customers. Experimenting on pigs saves them from becoming bacon.

Animal research over the years has contributed to major advances in the treatment of conditions such as breast cancer, childhood leukemia, polio, cystic fibrosis, malaria, ms, tb, and many others.  I believe I would not be alive today had it not been for animal research. 

Whether that makes it right, I don't know but I am very grateful for it.

If it is required, it should be the very last resort.  26 million animals are used every year in the US... I'd love to believe that every one was justified. 

thoughts?

From an objective 'neutral stance'; Question: Can permitting and enabling pain and death be justified for a greater good regardless of the context? Who is to decide who makes these decisions?

Diseases humans suffer from are self-created.

What a plague on the planet.

It is not for me to decide, I just have my own thoughts on the matter.  The fact is... it is decided upon by others who are more knowledgeable and hopefully regulated by people that care about animal welfare and limit the pain and suffering to an absolute minimum. 

Obesity, if you consider it to be a disease, sure.

But every disease/illness is man-made?

We humans have played our part in catalyzing or allowing diseases to fester or spread (not entertaining conspiracy theories), but whether we 'created' all the diseases... far fetched?

Yeah, it's self created. I think humans are the most stupid species on the planet. They monkey with the laws of nature and the laws of physics...perverting on the molecular and genetic level everything they come into contact with...and then they got on their "genius train ride" of ingesting chemicals and modifying genes of organisms they ingest...all found in their supermarkets -

out of boxes and plastic bags to they ingest their "foods"

Irony, torturing all those animals are not going to cure them, but create more resistant diseases and strains for future generations...

Not intending to cause offense, but to those who also take such an opinion (of course this isn't your full view on the issue) you're saying you will simply fall in line to whatever the conclusion is by those who are self-proclaimed scholars in regards to drug design? (This is pointed at me as well, not just at you.)

What do we do when academics and researchers 'preach' their truth and shy away from certain ethics to promote such actions?

Being a graduate from a school of pharmacy, there is no denying despite what big blue chip pharma 'companies' market, something along the lines of "an establishment to help combat illness and disease via state of the art technology", they are very much money orientated like any business. Pharmceutical fraud and clinical bias is rife, if you take a moment to research this on ye ole google, you'll see the problems in clinical trial data manipulation (just one issue if we trust those 'pharma companies' who sit on the regulatory bodies').

From the earlier response, one may deduce it says, 'as long as you can justify for greater purposes, such actions are permissable'.ie, safety & toxicity tests on animals with an eventual death

Most of us, if not all understand and see the great benefits that have arose out of such studies. But we also recognise the rights of beings being stripped away, we understand the pain that will be inflicted. Is this a predicament? Or is it simply a case of excercising our power & intelligence?

Some members do not understand, medicines take a very long time to develop if any drug is found to be of therapeutic interest (15 to 20 years). Only a very small proportion of this time needs animal research (as it is a requirement set out by the ICH in order to apply and begin your clinical trials), this is also only true when such a study is necessary and unavoidable.

Animal studies are used for research to help scientists bridge the gap between theories developed in vitro/test tubes. It gives early indications of whether the project is heading in the right direction.

The issue focuses on 'do we really need to use animal/rodents'?

Let's deal with the problem before discussing the source. The reality is, as the people, we face a lot of diseases looming over us and many degenerative diseases waiting patiently to ruin lives. What do we do?

Unfortunately, all we can do is lobby our ministers who we put in governments, who give the power to ones who put in the regulators, who regulate organisations, who control the environment, who conduct the testing, who follow the rules... hopefully! 

It does seem regulatory bodies from many countries ministry's of health to department of public health to the European Medicine's Agency to the FDA to the Japanese Ministry of Health, the rules and laws are stringent and forever being discussed.

But political bribery, pulling strings and how much Pharmaceutical companies influence economies, it's a big business that cannot simply slow down or vanish. 'Making profit off illness' is an awkward phrase, but a reality. 'Handouts' and 'overlooking' at such a heightened level wouldn't be new. It's a skwered path, they'll do what they need to do regardless of public opinion.

My sister's fridge, 20 years ago, was full of processed foods -- the more colorful they were the better, she thought.  There was no talking my sister out of feeding her toddler those poisons. My niece, now in her early twenties, already has allergies and joint problems.

My brother with his kid...same problem...no talking him out of feeding all that garbage to his newborn... family suspect child has autism now

Mother, assaulting her digestive/nervous system with pharma meds - pancreas, liver, kidneys failing and signs of dementia ..can only eat "puree" processed foods...

Solution? Stay away from pharma, chemically processed or genetically modified foods and drink clean water  --- it really is that simple. Just as God meant it to be.

If you're already diseased ridden? Same advice as above.

Test with animals is barbaric. I can understand why the medicine did that in the past, when was the only way, nowdays, with more resources, things are changing.

What is an absolute horror is how cosmetic and food companys do that in order to reduce the cost.

The simple advice of staying healthy and fit is rarely taken up by people. You cannot blame society wholeheartedly for your poor decision making. Haven't people always said "eat healthy, eat fruits & vegetables and always find time to exercise". Who actually listens?

It really is exemplary of why educating yourself and learning from mistakes is important.

The USA's is a different issue altogether. For a nation where a significant amount of people who cannot locate their own country on a map and blinded by patrotism, there's not much you can do for the masses if they do not themselves wish upon a change. There is so much discrepency in the dispensing of medication in the US. You have a pill for almost everything and find new ways to make food cheaper and more synthetic.

Would you like to elaborate a little more on "with more resources"?

For starters, there was no moral punishment to experiment or kill animals in the past. Nowdays is different, is not as easy as it was. In the past, early XX century and of course before, animals were just a piece of meat, you could had do whatever you want with them and it was ok, and to tell the truth, the same applied to people from other races or even other countries. Is incredible how civilization has develop. Of course the change is not global.

Pharma is a VERY LUCRATIVE industry in the U.S....

Mother on at least 8 deadly meds - "doctor prescribed"...from what I can see, it's killing her.

Same story. No talking her out of taking them - she "trusts" her "doctor".

Industry of Evil, as far as I'm concerned.

Actos - is a diabetes drug that is known to cause cancer, in some cases in less than 2 years of taking it...it is still being prescribed in the U.S.

It's banned in France, I believe.

Same story - can't talk my aunt out of taking Actos. She "trusts" her "doctor". 6 months ago, her white blood cells is registered to have gone haywire...

Show me peer-reviewed academic articles that support your claims. I'll dabble into this later, assignments need completing! But again, the ultimate choice is with the person. No-one can force a pill down your mouth. There are 1st line, 2nd line, 3rd line and sometimes 4th line treatments to diseases. There is a system and the risks are always well known and foretold.

(Getting off topic).

Animals do not get a choice, we enforce our will upon them when it concerns animal testing. Whereas dispensing and prescribing medication, the person in question is always the judge with a free choice on how to act.