Animal Testing in Medical and Cosmetic Research

Every year there is less and less animal testing done in both medical and cosmetic research. There are plenty of reasons as to why animal testing has been proven to be effective in research experiments. While the beginnings of animal testing were not entirely reassuring of its tactics in the process of testing . However with the time animal testing has been around, it has greatly improved with the advancement of regulations and technology put towards animal testing. Therefore, animal testing should be permitted because it is being an effective tool that has previously supported medical research.

In addition many animals are great analogs for the human body, and so cosmetics can produce better products.

The practice of animal testing can be traced back to Greek and Roman civilization, with the research being used for medicine and other experimental findings. Though today is very different, animal testing has remained a main part of the medical research field and has recently been criticized for its inhumane procedures. Many who support the process of animal testing believe that its supports future discoveries in the medical field. However, others have opposed the idea of an animal being treated less like a living creature and more like a tool for science. The first medical encounter that lead to the need of animal testing was in 1937, when an infectious outbreak resulted in a mass poisoning, which caused many deaths since no chemical test was conducted before putting the okay to a product (Hajar, 4). This public outbreak lead to the push for safe drug testing on animals, which would later evolved into the more in-depth testing we know today. In present times, animal research has brought people to a disagreement. Many who are pro animal testing see the potential future of research advancement. Although plenty of people see the harm done by animal testing as well.

Animal testing should be permitted in research experiments because they contribute to many successful results within the medical field. Armando Acosta and another chemists researched the need for animal testing in producing tuberculosis vaccines (Acosta, 1). This source highlights dependable animal models used in the evaluating steps in their discovery towards producing vaccines. With creating a working vaccine, chemists must conduct tests on complex antigens that other alternatives could not sustain leading different results compared to those conducted on animals (Acosta, 5). Animals are a part of the whole process in producing a vaccine. A main procedure in the process are the safety testings that are done on the animal subjects. In the Tuberculosis vaccine no more than 15% of animals were used in direct testing (Acosta, 3). Meaning it created a more diverse result in the way it seems to meet everyone’s needs without the over abuntage number of animals in one facility. Such as a guinea pig model can be used to identify antituberculosis chemotherapy while others models such as rabbits have lung issues that have been a vital part of the research process for tuberculosis vaccines since the beginning of the 20th century (acosta, 8). With animal subjects being at the center of the operation each aspect of the animal is taken into account from the beginnings of research to the final production meaning without the animals place in the medical field Tuberculosis vaccines would not be so advanced in today’s world of medicine.

Many of the tested animals provide an advantage from having a resembles to the human leading to more accurate and realistic results for patients. Large animal models support the process of developing preclinical assessment vaccine experiments for being close to the human system (Gerdts, 3). Pig would be considered one of the more reliable models due to their physiology and immune system being similar to that of a human. Another trait that makes pig valuable in research is some pigs can be infected with Bordetella pertussis which can make them excellent models for vaccine testing. With already having been born with the diseases the pig is being put into a benefiting situation where they are getting the medical attention they need. As for calves and cattle they have a rated human respiratory syncytial virus and bovine RSV (Gerdts, 11). These are great examples of the diverse area of animals that are tested because they are not found in typical mice and rats. Even with sheep they are used primarily for the studies of mucosal immunization (Gerdts, 12). Test ran on these sheeps are in the process for creating HRSV vaccines for infants and they are the models for testing vaccines against RVFV, Rift Valley fever virus, that can benefit both ruminants and humans. Another model that is a part of the series of useful models is horses they are particularly used for the testing to benefit elderly that need vaccines. As previously stated, with the different range of testing subjects it gives more accurate vaccine results because the animal for the most part is born with the disease instead of having to create an artificial disease to test. It can also benefit the animal and the patient as well many animals that are tested with supplementary treatments receive similar relief from the dose of medicine.

Animal testing does not only contribute to the research in the medical field but as well as a small few portion that supports the cosmetic industry. There are many companies that have dropped the process of animal testing due to customer demands. However, when it comes to having to produce large amounts of makeup at such a speed leads to less tested products that can cause plenty of unapproved results. Beauty brands that are still able to test on animals have been pushed and supported outside of both the UK and Europe where it is currently banned. There are different types of animal testing done for cosmetics a majority of it is focused on the safety aspects for both eyes and skins to avoid harss irritation. The process that makes animal testing all the more important in the world of cosmetic is that more cosmetic brands are being created and making mass amounts of products that go untested (Murnaghan, 2). With consumers constantly looking towards specific products that can be safe for their skin different tests are required. With the production of any product intended for human usage whether

When it comes to the topic of animal testing many do not take into account the positives that come with testing and focus only on negatives. A more common practice they want to replace animal testing completely is with technology base alternatives. Peta, an activist group for animal rights, states, These and other non-animal methods are not hindered by species differences that make applying animal test results to humans difficult or impossible, and they usually take less time and money to complete. ( peta,1 ). While the production of alternatives may be fast they are not efficient.

There are many ideas that come with the animal testing but many push away they thought on why this issue is important. In the beginning of many research pertaining to the medical field has started with small animal subjects. Although alternatives are now promoted to in present day research in order to reduce the amount of animal cruelty. But many alternatives cannot serve as complete substitutes for animals, as the animals rights advocates contend (Paul, 5). The presence of animal testing has been there in the journey to cure: AIDS, Alzheimer’s, cystic fibrosis, cancer, and plenty more targeted diseases. Animal testing is blocking the place for human trials to be implemented and can cause more damage then what opposing views fight for. As for the future of animal testing the idea would like to expand on being the support for curing more disease and maybe be able to benefit more animals through testing. While animal testing has been around many legislative and regulatory control has been placed on it for the cruel free environment many are fighting for. The Health Research Extension Act of 1985 mandated that the Public Health Service draw up guidelines to which all grantees must adhere (Paul, 14). After this Act was passed animal testing had become more safe for animals and slowly adopted more technology into the process of testing. From there animal testing was very advanced and had benefited the research of many cures however there was an outrage of continuous cruelty. There are many instances where animal testing has been useful in conducting research for the better of both animal and patient however not many want to understand the importance of animals in the research field.

This debate has gone on since animal cutlery has been an issue however animal testing is not on the list of animal cruelty. Animals do have rights and abuse should never be tolerated at any point in time. When they are purchased in a legal matter and are in no way of put in a injustice act of horror. What most do not understand of the process is that it is conducted in environments that are regulated and continuously check. It is a common myth that they are abused when most animals are bred into these research facilities and live a better life in captivity through the medical research departments. Most testing ends with more positive results for those who need the medical attention. Animal testing does not only support the medical side of research but little to no in the cosmetic field. There are some cases where people can react to some chemicals while all alternatives do are create substances for the majority.

For those who disagree commonly consider the idea of comparing your pet with lab tested animals. Many take this argument and push ethical views instead of understanding the bigger picture. It only becomes more of an unsolvable issue when you think of them to much as forced objects or objectified items with these types of statements thrown around the arguments get less and less forward. Another statistic that disproves the torture of testing on animals is that a number of animals put into testing do not make any fraction of the number of animals put into a consumption wards. Although many push towards becoming more eco friendly and want equal rights with animals they can not be entirely at fault for those who suffer from not having the benefits from animal testing. Overall most of these animals are living happy healthy lives and we should not be focused on the negatives and all the bad things we would hear from this and instead see what good comes from the effective results produced from animal testing.

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