Animal Experimentation

2 Pages 484 Words

Animal Experimentation has been used in the past in attempt to solve modern day health problems. There is now evidence to support the results from animal testing is not representative of what transpires in the human body. The key to solving today’s health problems lies not in using animal testing, but focusing on human clinical studies and through preventative measures.
Studies have shown human cells have been more reliable in the creation of vaccines than animal cells. In Peggy Carlson’s article, Why we don’t need animal experimentation, she says “it was also unfortunate that the original polio vaccine was produce using monkey cells instead of available human cells as can be done today”.
According to this evidence there was an alternative to using animal testing. In addition the animal cells used to produce the vaccine was actually hazardous. “The use of monkey cells resulted in virus with a potential to cause serious disease being transferred to humans when the polio vaccine was administered”, said Carlson. It is dangerous and wasteful to conclude that what occurs in animals will have the same results in humans. It is wasteful because of the time spent on animal testing too much time and energy has been devoted to animal experiments that have held back medical progress. Peggy Carlson quotes Dr. Bross, the former Director of Biostatics at the Roswell Institute for Cancer Research, “While conflicting animal results have often delayed and hampered advances in the war on cancer, they have never produced a single substantial advance either in the prevention or treatment of cancer”.
Much of today’s health problems, including heart disease, cancer, and AIDS, can be drastically reduced with the knowledge of preventative measures. Animal testing is uneconomical when we already know the main causes of these diseases. The elimination of smoking and maintaining a proper diet can drastically reduce the occurrence of these...